McG must be really annoyed at the moment. Until last autumn, he’d spent months working on a new version of 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea for Disney, but as soon as House Of Mouse chairman Dick Cook left and got replaced by Rich Ross, the film was unceremoniously dumped, with the new regime deciding it wasn’t compatible with what they were trying to achieve.
Since then not only has McG had to watch as Disney have set up some relatively similar sounding projects, but now it appears they’re getting back in the 20,000 Leagues business, but without him directing. In a very intriguing movie, THR reports that Fight Club and Benjamin Button director, David Fincher, has decided he wants to try and make a proper summer tentpole action pic, rather than the dark and tangled tales he’s known for.
As a result he’s now in negotiations with Disney to take on a new version of Jules Verne’s 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea, with Bourne Ultimatum scribe Scott Z. Burns on scripting duties. However just to make McG a bit more pissed off, the movie wasn’t Fincher’s idea, as Disney’s new production head Sean Bailey has been working on the film under the radar, pretty much since they dumped McG’s version.
Unfortunately for Disney though, it appears they’ve got competition, and it isn’t from McG. Shortly after the news about Fincher’s involvement in a House Of Mouse version surfaced, up popped reports, again via THR, that 20th Century Fox was also interested in Jules Verne’s tale. This one also has plenty of filmmaking talent involved, with Ridley and Tony Scott producing, a script by Clash Of The Titans co-writer Travis Beacham and they’re in talks to get Wanted’s Timur Bekmambetow directing (although no deal is in place yet, and he is incredibly picky).
20,000 Leagues is in the public domain, so anyone can adapt it, although due to the 1954 Disney movie, it’s often thought of as their preserve. The Fox movie is apparently much further down the road than the Disney one, and isn’t that far from being ready to shoot, while Fincher is likely to make another movie before turning his attentions to 20,000 Leagues, especially as Disney film is still in the early development stage. As a result it’s likely only one will get made, and at the moment it would seem Fox’s film is the most likely.