Hollywood oddity

Years ago, I read both the Bourne Identity and the Bourne Supremacy by Robert Ludlum. Both were entertaining books, if a bit confusing at times. I ended up watching the movies of the same name and found them enjoyable, in a mindless sort of way.

Though the Bourne Identity followed the events of the book for most of the movie, the ending was different, especially since the Julia Stiles character wasn't even in the book. Then things got odd in the second Bourne movie. Within the first 15 minutes, a major character dies...a character who has a central role in the book trilogy! The Bourne Supremacy movie had absolutely NO parallels to the book, other than the name of the main character. It ended up being a standard spy-themed action-suspense movie, complete with predictable plot twists and surprise villains.

Which brings us to the Bourne Ultimatum. I haven't seen or read either, but I think it's safe to say that the movie and the book will have absolutely nothing in common other than the main character and the title.

So imagine the conversation between the producer and the scriptwriter:

"OK kid, you've got the main character, who is some sort of rogue secret agent, but other than that the plot can be pretty much anything you want....oh, except somewhere along the way it has to incorporate an ultimatum."

"Uh, why does there have to be an ultimatum?"

"Because that's the title of the movie."

"Can we come up with a different title after we write the script?"

"No, we have to keep the same title as the book."

"But this movie has nothing to do with the book, right?"

"That's right....except for the title."

"What if I have a great idea for the story, but there's no ultimatum involved?"

"Then that idea won't fly...the title of the movie won't make any sense if there's no ultimatum."

Maybe no one else finds this as weird as me. On the plus side, something must have been done right--the response from critics has been overwhelmingly positive for a summer action movie (94% on Rotten Tomatoes).