Many people believe that Romancing the Stone (1984) is a rip-off and "cash-in" on the success of Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), but the screenplay for this movie was written in 1979, before Raiders even existed. Correction: Although written and sold in 1979, the screenplay was not produced until 5 years later. Neither film is a ripoff of the other, but Romancing the Stone was Fox's attempt to cash in on the success of Raiders of the Lost Ark. Also correction: In 1973, George Lucas wrote "The Adventures of Indiana Smith". In late May 1977, Lucas was in Hawaii... Friend and colleague Steven Spielberg was also there... While building a sand castle at the Mauna Kea Beach Hotel, Spielberg expressed an interest in directing a James Bond film. Lucas convinced his friend Spielberg that he had conceived a character "better than James Bond" and explained the concept of Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981). Spielberg loved it, calling it "a James Bond film without the hardware", although he told Lucas that the surname 'Smith' was not right for the character. Lucas replied, "OK. What about 'Jones'?"