Hampton Comes Alive

A great American leader is assassinated, setting off a frantic, long-distance chase for a killer on the run. If that reminds you of James Swanson's publishing phenomenon (and high-profile Walden project) Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln's Killer(Morrow, 2006) you probably won't hear any complaints from ICM's Sloan Harris and Ron Bernstein.This time, however, the book in question-still untitled and not yet on Doubleday's publishing calendar-is bestselling author Hampton Sides's account of the Martin Luther King assassination and the massive international hunt for James Earl Ray. Ray eluded the FBI, the CIA, Interpol and Scotland Yard for a full two months before being apprehended at London's Heathrow Airport-right before he was set to head underground. Bernstein submitted Sides's brief proposal to a handful of producers, with reportedly strong interest from at least two of them. Sides is the author of Ghost Soldiers (Anchor, 2002) which inspired the John Dahl film The Great Raid.

Ever since Sean Young memorably asked Harrison Ford, "Is this testing whether I'm a replicant or a lesbian, Mr. Deckard?" in 1982's futuristic stunner Blade Runner, producers have rooted through Philip K. Dick's sprawling backlist (about 170 published novels and short stories) in search of the next can't-miss sci-fi premise. Sometimes they've found it (Total Recall); other times... not so much (Screamers). The latest adaptation, Next, from Dick's short story "The Golden Man," hit theaters Friday. Below, the box office performance of other Dick titles: