On September 2, Anchor Books will crash out 200,000 copies of One Point Safe, a nonfiction narrative about the instability of the former Soviet Union nuclear arsenal, written by veteran journalists Andrew and Leslie Cockburn. The books will tie into the September 26 release of The Peacekeeper, the first film from Steven Spielberg's Dreamworks Pictures, which stars Nicole Kidman and George Clooney. The Cockburns, who sold to a dramatic story based on their reporting to Spielberg, serve as co-producers on the film. Ironically, Vanity Fair never ran the assigned piece that serves as the basis for the movie, although it will now, in its October issue.
And given the business that The Lost World movie and book are generating right now, it's not surprising that publishers jumped all over rights to another dinosaur movie, next year's Godzilla. Newmarket Press publisher Esther Margolis, serving as agent for studio Tri-Star, just sold adult novelization rights to HarperPrism senior v-p and publishing director John Silbersack and junior novelization rights to Scholastic editorial director Craig Walker for a rumored $500,000 combined, considered a record offer for the juvenile end of the deal. In a deal conducted by New Line v-p David Imhoff and Writer's House, HarperPrism and Scholastic also won an amazing 11 licenses to Lost in Space, which will star William Hurt, Mimi Rogers, Gary Oldman and others, to be released by New Line next year.
