It seems that author Richard Matheson is the new Philip K.Dick in terms of Hollywood adapting his work for the screen. In the last ten years we have had THE BOX, I AM LEGEND, A STIR OF ECHOES and this month’s REAL STEEL.

Matheson is also a huge influence on much of the talent that rose to prominence in the late 70s and 80s. Stephen King and Stephen Spielberg owe the man a huge debt in terms of the effect Matheson’s writing had on their work.

Now 85 years old, Matheson has teamed up with his screenwriter son R.C Matheson and started to shop around a package of rights to 150 pieces of his work from short stories, books, plays and un-produced screenplays. They are looking to sell the studio the rights to these with the view to making a movie. The deal will come with a catch however as Mr Matheson wants to have a say on what ends up on the screen, and if you have seen WHAT DREAMS MAY COME then you can understand why…

Recently studios have picked up EARTHBOUND and DEUS EX MACHINA for adaptation to the screen. With REAL STEEL looking like it’s about to hit big with good word of mouth some studio picking this up could look at this as a big win.

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