Why Disneys 20000 Leagues Adaptation Has Taken So Long Every Failed Version

Why Disney’s 20,000 Leagues Adaptation Has Taken So Long: Every Failed Version

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Disney hasn’t made a major prequel or remake for 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea since 1954, but several were proposed before the new Disney+ show.

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Why Disneys 20000 Leagues Adaptation Has Taken So Long Every Failed Version

After over half a century, Disney is finally moving forward with a new adaptation of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, having failed to produce several versions of the classic story over the years. Disney’s most successful adaptation of Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea retold the plot of the original 1870 Jules Verne novel, following American master-harpooner Ned Land (Kirk Douglas) and a crew sent to investigate claims of a sea monster attacking ships in the ocean, where they are instead captured by the Nautilus’s menacing Captain Nemo (James Mason). Disney has adapted plenty of classic adventure stories, typically rebooting old projects for new generations, but the 1954 film has been Disney’s only major iteration of 20,000 Leagues.

Disney+ has officially ordered a new 20,000 Leagues adaptation that will be a 10-part live-action series, titled Nautilus. Instead of retelling the original plot, the Nautilus series will focus on the origin story of Captain Nemo and his infamous submarine, showing audiences the events that lead up to 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea’s storyline. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Nautilus will detail Nemo as an Indian prince who lost his birthright, became a prisoner by the East Indian Company, and is now a man out for revenge on the people who took everything from him. The new Disney+ series is expected to begin filming in 2022.

While Disney’s 1954 rendition of 20,000 Leagues is the most well-known, there have been several attempts by different studios over the years to revive the underwater saga. The last official depiction of Captain Nemo and the Nautilus onscreen was in 2007’s 30,000 Leagues Under the Sea, a badly-received modern re-imagining of the novel from the Asylum. With Disney still holding the tale’s most successful screen adaptation, it’s surprising it’s taken nearly seven decades to create a new version with modern technology. In reality, Disney has tried, though it appears Pirates of the Caribbean took precedence for their sea-based adventure adaptations. Since 2009, several iterations of a 20,000 Leagues prequel were proposed under Disney, but none made it past the pre-production stage.

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McG’s 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea: Captain Nemo

Why Disneys 20000 Leagues Adaptation Has Taken So Long Every Failed Version

When Disney first opted to make a big-budget 20,000 Leagues prequel, it was brought to Terminator Salvation director McG back in 2009 as 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea: Captain Nemo. The story would follow a somewhat similar premise to the new Disney+ Nautilus series, where Nemo begins to build his deadly warship. McG’s iteration would have been more faithful to Verne’s novel rather than the 1954 movie, exploring what happened to Aronnax and how Nemo became the angry, vengeance-seeking man seen in 20,000 Leagues, where he goes to “war with war itself” (via SyFy).

McG’s 20,000 Leagues screenplay was written by Deja Vu scribe Bill Marsilli and Braveheart penman Randall Wallace doing rewrites, making the film an updated, family-friendly iteration. Rumors about casting Dwayne Johnson as Captain Nemo abounded at the time, but McG debunked them and told SyFy his first choice was Will Smith, who turned down the role. After months of pre-production, Empire later reported that Disney put the film on indefinite hold due to “creative differences,” with McG leaving the project in November 2009.

David Fincher’s 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea

Why Disneys 20000 Leagues Adaptation Has Taken So Long Every Failed Version

The most highly anticipated version of 20,000 Leagues was to be directed by none other than David Fincher. Following McG’s exit from the 20,000 Leagues: Captain Nemo movie, Fight Club director Fincher revealed he would tackle the material as a remake of the 1954 film. Scrapping Marsilli’s script under McG, Fincher announced at the 2010 San Diego Comic-Con he would be adapting 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea for Disney based on a new screenplay written by The Bourne Ultimatum penman Scott Z. Burns.

Fincher’s version was hyped by Hollywood for four years as Disney’s big-budget 3D iteration of the underwater tale, which at one point was set to feature Fincher collaborator Brad Pitt as Ned Land, though he officially turned down the role in 2013 to star in Fury. According to SlashFilm, Fincher estimated his 20,000 Leagues would be 70% CGI, which was a technique he used proficiently for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. In an MTV interview, Fincher had hoped the movie to be a “big tentpole teenage PG-13 summer movie,” which suggests it wasn’t going to be the family-friendly movie envisioned under McG. Fincher’s 20,000 Leagues was intended to be shot as the biggest production ever filmed in Australia too, where the nation provided a tempting $22.5 million tax incentive to host the production.

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After finishing The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo in 2011, Fincher seemed to be ready to move forward with 20,000 Leagues. When it still hadn’t moved forward in early 2013, Deadline also reported Disney hadn’t officially greenlit the project because there were issues with casting the lead. By summer 2013, it was revealed that Fincher had officially dropped the project, having signed on to direct the enthralling thriller movie Gone Girl instead. The Playlist reported the decision came down to Fincher’s inability to agree with Disney on a suitable lead actor. After Pitt’s exit, Fincher eyed Daniel Craig, who he had recently worked with on Dragon Tattoo, and Matt Damon, though both objected due to the 140-day intensive Australian shoot. Leading up to the project officially being sacked, the director was keen on casting Channing Tatum for Ned, whereas Disney wanted Thor actor Chris Hemsworth. After years of being unable to find common ground to move forward with Disney, Fincher decided to leave 20,000 Leagues for good.

James Mangold’s Captain Nemo

With all of the excitement brought by David Fincher’s almost-adaptation, Disney was still interested in produing the movie. In 2016, The Wolverine director James Mangold decided to tackle the original Captain Nemo prequel concept previously proposed under McG’s direction. Mangold’s version, simply titled Captain Nemo, would explore the character’s anti-hero origin story with a script written by The Eye’s Sebastian Gutierrez. In a state of limbo about as long as Fincher’s, Mangold’s Captain Nemo was delayed by his production of Logan (2017), and again set aside when Mangold decided to go ahead with his Oscar-nominated Ford v. Ferrari movie in 2019. In 2020, The DisInsider reported that Mangold was no longer attached to the 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea adaptation and would instead be helming 2022’s Indiana Jones 5.

Link Source : https://screenrant.com/20000-leagues-under-sea-disney-movie-show-delays-cancelled/

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