Two Different '20,000 Leagues Under the Sea' Heading to Theaters

After being gone for nearly a week and doing nothing but Rush posts, I'm going to take the time to do a serious post right now.

Disney is taking it's "20,000 Leagues Under The Sea" remake out of docking for another try after, six months after the studio halted production on the $150 million project.

A new director has been found to replace McG in the form of David Fincher ("Fight Club") and a writer in Scott Z. Burns ("The Bourne Ultimatum"), both of whom are currently in negotiations.

According to THR, The project was reportedly being put together as Disney’s new production head, Sean Bailey, settled into his position under recently appointed chairman, Rich Ross.

The $150 million McG version was set to be an origin story for Captain Nemo and apparently a darker tale – one of the problems that led to it being nixed.

The plot for the Fincher/Burns "20,000 Leagues" is being kept under wraps for the time being (as is the budget, which I imagine won’t be as much as $150 million). It’s not clear if this new version will stick to darker territories but the involvement of Fincher certainly suggests it.

THR says that Fincher wanted "to tackle a four-quadrant tentpole movie" for the first time in his career. Even more exciting, apparently the "20,000 Leagues" that Fincher and Burns are whipping up is being described as visually dazzling, much in the same vein as "Star Wars" or "The Empire Strikes Back."

But wait! There's more!

HeatVision reports that 20th Century Fox is planning its own version of the film, to be produced by Ridley Scott and his brother Tony Scott from a screenplay by "Clash of the Titans" co-writer Travis Beacham.

The Scotts have approached Timur Bekmambetov ("Wanted") about directing the project, which will take things in a more sci-fi direction by being set in the future rather than being a period peice (but the story will follow the same structure).

Jules Verne's classic tale, originally published in 1869, is in the public domain - so anyone can adapt it. So don't expect any lawsuits coming out of this...for now.

More news to come! Catch ya' later!
Sources: First Showing, Screen Rant, The Geek Files

'20,000 Leagues Under the Sea' Dead in the Water

According to Variety, Warner Bros. has halted moving forward with their remake of "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea." On top of that, McG, who was set to direct, is off the project, and will now concentrate on other things such as the Warner Bros. drama, "Dead Spy Running."

"20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" seemed to be moving ahead pretty well, with a tentative shooting start of February, 2010. McG even said not that long ago that they’d already looked at different shooting locations including Japan, France and Canada. The "Terminator Salvation" director sounded pretty enthusiastic back in August when he talked about such things as how he was planning on contemporizing the story while still maintaining the spirit of adventure from the original 1870 story and 1950’s movie.

There’s no real word on why Disney has halted "20,000 Leagues," nor why McG has left the project. Apart from having a director, no cast was set.

Are you surprised Disney has put a halt on their "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" remake? I know I am. And I was looking forward to a reimagining of the classic tale (even though I am usually against remakes).

More news to come! Catch ya' later!
Source: Screen Rant

McG On 'Terminator 5' & '20,000 Leagues'

Two film directing projects on the horizon for McG ("Terminator Salvation") is the Disney remake of "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea," and the fifth installment in the Terminator franchise, currently being referred to as simply "Terminator 5." It appears that McG’s focus is currently on "20,000 Leagues," with "T5" to follow after that.

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea

McG’s film appears to be both a remake of the Richard Fleischer film from 1954 that starred Kirk Douglas and James Mason, as well as a new kind of adaptation of the 1870 novel by Jules Verne. McG has talked about the aim to for his version:

“It’s a bit of a departure from the Fleischer movie, and much more in keeping with the spirit of the novel, as far as what Aronnax is up to, and the becoming of Nemo, and how the man became at war with war itself. So there’s a little bit more meat on the bone in regard to the genesis of the Nemo character than you’re given in the ’50s movie that Disney made. And also, it’s a little more contemporary.”

“I love that [original] movie, but there were two female characters, and they were both prostitutes. And, there were a couple of black people in the film, and they were all electrocuted. So, nowadays, I think we need to progress a little bit beyond that.”

The movie appears to be quite far along in the development stages, since McG reveals they’ve been scouting various shooting locations around the world from France, Japan and England, to Canada, Australia and Hawaii (the latter for some sort of “little volcano work”). McG has revealed he is aiming for it to be an action-packed film, trying to capture the spirit of the adventure from the original story.

Terminator 5

Although McG says his focus is very much on "20,000 Leagues" at the moment, he reveals that he’s also prepping "Terminator 5." With such a complex world to manage in the Terminator franchise, I’d say McG is wise to at least have the next installment in mind, even if it’s still a ways off.

McG talked about his intention for the Terminator franchise, speaking about whether or not he wants to take a break from it or dive back in, as Michael Bay did with "Transformers 2." He says he’s excited about the next part of the series’ story, and talks about a possible angle for it that could see it getting, “out of the apocalyptic world and into the contemporary world.”

"So the idea is to play with one of the tried and true rules of the franchise – time travel – and introduce it in this picture," Mcg said. "I don't want to share too much, but let's just say it's very, very likely that John Connor is going to end up running through rooms like this where he knows something that none of us know. And I think that is a platform for great storytelling."

The part about the next Terminator possibly going from the, “apocalyptic world into the contemporary world,” was first hinted at a few months ago when McG brought up the time travel angle again. An industry source then said that T5 would see the franchise (specifically John Connor) transported back in time to London, England. That, combined with what McG has said above, could mean that rumor could very well turn out to be true.

If this was the case, it would take the franchise away from the future war between man and machine that we’d heard about for the first three movies, and back to the old travel-back-in-time formula. That's too bad because the only real good part about "Salvation" was seeing the future war that was hinted at in the previous Terminator films.

What do you think about what McG has said: Do you like the direction he’s going with 20,000 Leagues? How about the direction he’s thinking about going with T5?

Sources: Screen Rant, First Showing, Collider, IESB

Movies Getting Rewrites

Two movies are getting new drafts of their scripts. "Spider-Man 4" and "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea."

According to Variety, Gary Ross has been hired to pen a new draft of “Spider-Man 4.” The deal reunites Ross with series lead Tobey Maguire, who he directed previously in “Seabiscuit” and "Pleasantville."

The most troubling part of this news is likely to be that any official announcement of the new “Spider-Man” villains is probably further away than we’d hoped.

Ross has worked with Maguire before, but does that make him the best writer for the next "Spider-Man" film?

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Disney has hired Randall Wallace to rework the screenplay for its upcoming remake of the 1954 classic "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea," based on the Jules Verne novel. Wallace will rework the existing script by Bill Marsilii and Justin Marks, which tells the origin of Captain Nemo and his warship the Nautilus.

Wallace wrote, produced and directed "The Man in the Iron Mask" and "We Were Soldiers." He was also the writer on "Braveheart" and "Pearl Harbour."

Can these rewrites make these movies work? We'll have to wait and see.
More news to come! Catch ya' later!
Sources: MTV News, The Geek Files

Movie News Mash 14

"Predators"

According to Bloody Disgusting, "Bloody-Disgusting got the scoop that Alex Litvak is currently penning the new draft of 'Predators' that's to be produced by Robert Rodriguez's Troublemaker Studios for 20th Century Fox. Litvak recently wrote 'Medieval' for New Regency. The reboot to the classic 80's action/horror flick Predator is being penned as a 'sequel' and will follow a team of commandos who face down a mysterious race of vicious monsters. The project is on fast-track for a July 9, 2010 release. No word yet on who will be directing as Rodriguez is now said to not be getting behind the camera."

Again, so it is a sequel and not a reboot yet it is still being called a reboot. Is everyone getting confused with the jargon? Is it possible the film can be both (as the sequel will be rebooting the franchise)?

"Inception"

According to The Hollywood Reporter, "Ken Watanabe and Tom Hardy are boarding Christopher Nolan's 'Inception' for Warner Bros.

The story, which Nolan wrote, is a contemporary sci-fi actioner set within the architecture of the mind, with Leonardo DiCaprio as a CEO type.

The duo join a cast that includes Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Cillian Murphy, Ellen Page and Marion Cotillard."

Watanabe, who starred as Ra’s Al Ghul in Nolan’s 2005 "Batman Begins," will play the film’s villain, a man who is blackmailing DiCaprio. Hardy is also a member of DiCaprio’s team.

Production is set to begin this summer for a July 16, 2010 release.

"20,000 Leagues Under the Sea"

Sci Fi Wire spoke to "Terminator Salvation" director McG about his upcoming remake of "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" for Disney and found out Dwayne Johnson is not involved with the film.

What makes Dwayne Johnson right as your leading man?

McG: He's not. I don't know where that came from. I've never spoken to Dwayne Johnson. You can be the first to report that I have no idea where that came from. I wish him every success, but I never spoke to Dwayne about this.

So do you have a leading man, then?

McG: I do not. I'm out to Will Smith.

Well, everyone is running with that Dwayne Johnson story—

McG: I've never spoken to Dwayne Johnson about this. I like him. He's great. He's a wonderful human being and an excellent screen presence, but we have not spoken about '20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.' Not a word.

McG says he still hopes that Will Smith will play the part in the new movie.

The Rock is Under the Sea

Production Weekly has an update on the "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" remake being directed my McG.

It says under cast Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson.
So Dwayne Johnson is going to star in another Disney movie? Better play it safe than sorry I guess.

PW also goes on to say, "A fugitive whaler teams up with a naturalist, a mysterious woman and a captain of a futuristic submarine, to search for a lost underwater civilization that holds libraries of vast knowledge and a weapon with the power to destroy mankind. (Studio is fast-tracking the project and hopes to make the
film this year.)"

More news to come! Catch ya' later!

McG Wants Another Shot at Superman

Didn't I just do a post with Mcg?
The "Terminator Salvation" director wishes to have another go at directing a "Superman" film.

According to The Geek Files, "McG was previously attached to the unfilmed 'Batman vs Superman' in 2002, before leaving to take on 'Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle.' A year later, he took over from Brett Ratner in the unmade origin film 'Superman: Flyby,' written by 'Lost' creator JJ Abrams, but dropped out after clashes over budget and locations.

Warner Bros is planning to 'reintroduce' the character in a new film that is unconnected to Bryan Singer's 2006 'Superman Returns.'"

In an interview with io9, McG spoke about his vision for Superman.

"I talk to JJ [Abrams] a lot about that. We went through a lot on that whole thing, I don't know. I talk to the DC guys, [President Paul] Levitz is here and I just saw Greg. Food for thought.

"I think it's a great character, I would want to make the character infinitely more dark and complicated, and get away from the big Blue Boy Scout a little bit and get into the alien among us. And how that could be lonely and interesting. It's not that I would make it depressing, I'd would just make it a little tougher... Which I suspect people would respond to.

"We have the glorious 'Batman Begins' and 'The Dark Knight,' which to me is an excellent example. I like the Schumacher pictures and everything Burton did but it needed to be reinvented to some degree and I think we're all better for it. We're all happy it went that way at least."

McG's next film is the remake of "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea."

A dark Superman can be interesting if done correctly, but I don't want to see another "Dark Knight." It was good, but Superman is different than Batman. Yes, he is alone among the humans, but he makes friends (and many enemies). Superman is just always seen as the good guy, but there is always a little darkness in everyone.
I say bring in Doomsday and do the death of Superman (like "Superman:Doomsday") thing for real!
More news to come! Catch ya' later!

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea Remake

According to The Geek Files, "Disney studios has hired McG to direct a remake of the classic film '20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.'

Scripted by Bill Marsilli, the film - to be called '20,000 Leagues Under the Sea: Captain Nemo' - is an origin story of Nemo as he creates his advanced undersea warship, the Nautilus. The characters come from the Jules Verne novel.

The 1954 original '20,000 Leagues Under the Sea' was the first live-action film made by Walt Disney, and is best remembered for the giant squid attack sequence. James Mason played Nemo in that version, which became the second-highest grossing film that year and won three Oscars. The film has also been the basis for various rides at the Disney theme park over the years.

Some of the project's thunder may have been stolen by 'Pirates of the Caribbean' with its similar maritime attack by the squid-like kraken, but this could still be a great movie if the writers and director come up with imaginative and fresh ideas."

McG's latest movie is the highly anticipated "Terminator: Salvation."

Other source: Variety