H.G. Wells War of the Worlds vs. War of the Worlds?

"We approached DreamWorks with our version before they had thought of doing a version of The War of the Worlds. Tom Cruise announced his intention to do a version a full two years after ours had been publicly announced in Variety with a half page ad. We were about ready to shoot when Steven Spielberg signed on, and two thirds of the way through filming when Cruise and Spielberg dropped their other projects and decided to fast track a version out. Needless to say, we received a hefty blast of cold wind."

He made that comment in a little article in a magazine, Creative Screenwriting. Apparently he had alot of problems getting the film made due to 9/11 and said that his film "frighteningly mirrored" many aspects of  the attack. So he had to latter convince his investors to let him go on.

"This is the first time The War of the Worlds will be brought to the screen in it's original context and setting. As far as I know, this is the first time any Wells novel has been adapted with such accuracy. People who have never read Wells will find out for the first time why the passion for his novels has lasted over a hundred years."

This is definetly going to be a up hill battle for Hines. He is going up against quite possibly two of the most popular names in Hollywood, Tom Cruise and Steven Spielberg. Luckily Hines has time on his side and Spielbergs "War" won't be released until the summer, June 29th.

Source: Movieweb