MEXICO CITY - Three Mexicans who spent nine months drifting across the Pacific Ocean in a flimsy fishing boat eating raw fish and sea birds are to be paid at least $3.8 million to turn their story into a movie. The three -- all fishermen who said they were too poor to afford a better boat or modern fishing tackle -- have signed a contract to sell their story to an Atlanta-based company, said a government official in San Blas, the fishing town where they began their odyssey. The company negotiated 8-year exclusive rights to market the story to film companies, book publishers and merchandisers, said government official Silverio Aspericueta, adding that the final payment could be even higher.

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