Posted by tourdemars to Entertainment at May 27, 2001 12:00 PM

The War of the Worlds, HG Wells's epic tale of monstrous invaders from the red planet Mars, is to be restaged in a project that has triggered a parallel conflict in the equally hostile environment of an American courtroom. Lawyers are lining up to protect their clients' share of a £40m retelling of the original short story published in a magazine in 1898. In a first for American cinema, the film is being funded by a group of Seattle dotcom entrepreneurs who are big fans of the pioneering social critic.