Refusing to let an obvious rhyme go begging, we bring you news that McG's next project, 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea: Captain Nemo, has been fast-tracked by Disney, with screenwriter Justin Marks coming on board to reshape the script.
Marks, who recently adapted arcade classic **Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li **('hadouken!') and He-Man And The Masters Of The Universe for the big screen, will work on what is essentially a Nautilus origin story, covering the construction and launch of Captain Nemo's nuclear-powered sub.
Overtones of the Star Trek origin story perhaps, but there's magic in Jules Verne's sub-sea adventure and in the right hands (and with the right Nemo) this could be a winner. Walt Disney's 1954 original 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea*, which starred James Mason as the squid-wrassling seafarer, was the studio's first live-action movie. It was big success, garnering two Oscars, a ton of box-office and a theme park ride.
The original 20,000 Leagues was something of a cautionary tale about the dangers of nuclear power, which provides a handy, if super-tenuous link to McG's current project, Terminator Salvation. Is he the right man to steer the good ship Nautilus?
Wikifact! 20,000 leagues refers to the distance travelled under the sea (which is 12 times the earth's radius) and not to a depth.