Crichton Sells Book’s Rights to Paramount

Sources said Paramount Pictures won the closely watched bidding for the movie rights to the new time-travel novel from Michael Crichton, the best-selling author of “Jurassic Park,” “The Lost World” and “Airframe.” Under the unusual deal, Crichton will only receive $1 for the rights to “Timeline” but will enjoy a hefty percentage of the film’s gross in a deal that reportedly could pay him as much as $15 million if the film is a hit. In addition, Crichton will be paid as a producer. Richard Donner, whose films include the “Lethal Weapon” series, will direct the film, tentatively planned for release for the Memorial Day weekend in 2001. The sale was being watched closely because it was engineered by former superagent Michael Ovitz, who recently lured Crichton to his Artists Management Group from Creative Artists Agency, which Ovitz ran when he was a talent agent.