Steven Spielberg is set to return to Michael Crichton-land with a screen adaptation of the late author's adventure novel Pirate Latitudes.

Spielberg favourite screenwriter David Koepp will write the screenplay of the book, which is set in 1665 and centres on a plan to attack wealthy city Port Royal, and on a treasure-filled Spanish galleon. Pirate Latitudes will be published by Harper Collins, having been discovered as a fully-finished manuscript after the writer's death this year.

Spielberg, who also collaborated with Dr. Crichton on ER, says: "Michael Crichton was one of our greatest storytellers who expanded all of our imaginations with his books, films and television. With the ER series and Jurassic Park series, I enjoyed one of the best collaborations of my career. Now with Pirate Latitudes, I and all of us at DreamWorks have the chance to be excited about bringing this new Michael Crichton work to the screen."

Ghost Town writer/director Koepp also adapted Crichton's dino-fest Jurassic Park into the huge 1993 blockbuster for Spielberg, as well as contributing screenplays for Spielberg's War Of The Worlds and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

Reuters