Oscar winning directors Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi (Free Solo, Nyad) have come aboard as part of the package to helm an adaptation of Eruption, the new novel by Michael Crichton and James Patterson. Deadline reported that Chin and Vasarhelyi "will be in the center of meetings to be held next week in which they'll pitch the book, a large scale earth-threatening thriller about a volcano explosion in Hawaii.... The aim is to pitch studios and financiers with the expectation that a deal will be made before a screenwriter is hired." They might also be directing a documentary on the life of the late Crichton.
Eruption "will be their biggest challenge to date, but their background in extreme sports makes them an intriguing choice, which prompted producers Sherri Crichton, James Patterson and Shane Salerno to choose them over numerous other helmers," Deadline wrote.