Disney Drains McG’s 20,000 Leagues Remake

Published by Jeff Leins on: November 17th, 2009

Walt Disney Studios has halted production on 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea: Captain Nemo, an expensive remake that was to be directed by McG (Terminator Salvation).

Following the Monday meeting, McG withdrew from the origin story to focus on other projects like Dead Spy Running and the musical Spring Awakening.  He’s also loosely attached to Terminator 5, but the rights to the franchise are in a bidding war and the new owner may have different thoughts on the creative direction.

Variety reports the family adventure movie was the first casualty of a changing of the guards at the top of Disney’s executive branch.  The new movie chief, Rich Ross, pulled the plug on what was the last approved project by the ousted Dick Cook even after the studio had spent $10 million to hire crews in preparation for a February 2010 shoot.  The Jules Verne adaptation was budgeted at $150 million.

There were a few casting rumors, including Will Smith, T4’s Sam Worthington, and The Rock, but none of them panned out.  Instead, the script was quietly being reworked by the fourth screenwriter on the project, author Michael Chabon.

McG no longer fussing with a classic should be good news for everyone besides those involved in the shoot.  Was anyone really interested in Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson portraying Nemo any way?  Why not just re-master the 1954 original?  As for the partially built Nautilus, I would like to purchase it so that I might travel the globe in search of the one person who thinks McG should continue directing movies.