McG to Take Us 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea

Published by Jeff Leins on: January 9th, 2009

Disney has hired McG to direct 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea: Captain Nemo, a family film hurrying into production this year.  The script was written by Bill Marsilii (Deja Vu) and will tell the origin story of Nemo when he creates his ship, the Nautilus.  The characters are based on the classic novel by Jules Verne.

The original in 1954 won three Oscars and was the first live-action film for Disney.  It’s now several theme park rides for the company.  The 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea remake was revealed over a year ago in a memo circulated before the writers strike, only now is it moving forward with a director.

However, the jury is still out on McG as a worthy director.  After two bad Charlie’s Angels movies, everyone seems to be waiting for Terminator Salvation to see how it looks (except for Disney, of course).  McG will make this film next before starting work on the fifth Terminator.

According to Variety, McG is being paid $8 million against 7% of the gross.

Speculation has already started at MarketSaw about it being shot in stereoscopic 3-D.  The site cites producer Sean Bailey’s involvement, who is currently working on the digital 3-D production of Tron 2.0 for Disney.  They also point out Disney’s new found love for the format, especially for family movies.  But mostly they’re just excited, as I am, about things floating at me in the theater.