Jules Verne Tagged Articles at Cinematical

The klaxons are sounding for the Nautilus and Captain Nemo's origin story. Variety reports that Disney has quietly shelved the project, and McG has been released from duty in order to seek better fortune ashore.

The project was scheduled to begin production this February, and was on a fast track under Dick Cook. But as you probably remember, Cook was shown the door a few months ago. Many of Disney's big projects seem to be left dangling as stars like Johnny Depp decide whether they're sailing or staying ashore. 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea: Captain Nemo is just the latest, though Disney insists big popcorn flicks will still be a focus for them.

Leagues had already been a revolving door of rumors, with Will Smith said to be in the running to play Nemo. Justin Marks was originally penning the script, but was replaced by Randall Wallace this past July. Variety reports that the project was being penned by Bill Marsilli, so presumably Wallace was off as well. While it's not unusual to have three screenwriters on a project, it doesn't sound like this submarine had a reliable captain. Perhaps the Nautilus will sail again as a proper steampunk picture that explores his romantic Indian past, and not a slapdash summerfest.

If you paid good money to see Jaws 3-D, Friday the 13th Part 3 (in 3-D) and The Man Who Wasn't There (the Steve Guttenberg 1983 version in 3-D) during their original theatrical runs, as I did, then you might understand why I've been so reluctant to board the new 3-D bandwagon.Those were awful movies and terrible 3-D experiences: ghost images everywhere, red/blue mix-ups, and constantly shifting focus. The stupid little 3-D paper "viewers" never fit correctly over my own prescription eyeglasses. Instead of inducing a sense of wonder, those movies made my stomach queasy.

But everyone says the new technology is markedly better, and I'm even more optimistic after reading Christopher Campbell's recent column on the wonders of Journey to the Center of the Earth in digital 3-D. I plan to see for myself this weekend, and in anticipation, I started dreaming about other movies that might really benefit from 3-D done right. To keep the list from becoming endless, the seven below could all be considered future cousins of Journey, adventures involving travel through time, place and/or space. All are proposed sequels or remakes or adaptations of published works, and, alas, all must be considered dream projects, at least as far as 3-D is concerned.

Put on your 3-D glasses before jumping onward to my choices, and please share your dreams in the comments.

New Line was cool enough to send Cinematical this exclusive first look at the new poster for Journey to the Center of the Earth 3-D (click on the image above for a larger version), starring Brendan Fraser, Josh Hutcherson and Anita Briem. Based on the classic Jules Verne story, Journey follows a scientist on a quest to find his missing brother. Joined by his nephew and a mountain guide, the three soon discover a fantastic and dangerous world at the center of the earth. The film was directed by visual effects wiz Eric Brevig, and was shot using 3-D technology. The first trailer for Journey apparently screened before IMAX prints of Beowulf recently, and fan reaction was pretty positive. If there ever was a story that could use a good re-tooling for a new 3-D generation, this is definitely it. Journey to the Center of the Earth 3-D is set to arrive in theaters on July 11.

August in Los Angeles is hotter than ... well, it's hot there, and who wants to be hanging outdoors getting all sweaty and sticky? Not me, and probably not you, either, my fellow cinema fans. But no worries, American Cinematheque has you covered: August 2-26, they'll be running the 7th Annual Festival of Fantasy, Horror and Science Fiction! That's right, kids -- the whole steamy month of August you can be inside a nice, cool movie theater, chilling out with all the werewolves, vampires and freaky mad scientists your geeky little hearts desire. Here's all the scoop:

From August 2-26 at The Egyptian, and August 9-12 at The Aero, you'll be able to check out all kinds of scary stuff, including rarely seen films not even available on DVD. The fest will feature tributes to the work of late author Kurt Vonnegut and director Curtis Harrington (who both passed away earlier this year), with Memorial Tribute screenings. Vonnegut fans will get a real treat -- a double feature of adaptations of his works Slaughterhouse-Five, directed by George Roy Hill, and Happy Birthday, Wanda Jane, directed by Mark Robson. Harrington's 1967 film Games, which stars James Caan, will screen as well.

Today's "Hollywood remakes an old movie" story comes straight out of the "why did it take them so long to think of this one?" file. According to New Line Studios, development is now beginning for a remake of the 1954 Disney movie 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, based on Jules Verne's book of the same name. The film will apparently go through Sam Raimi's Buckaroo company, but as yet Raimi is not directly attached to the production in any meaningful way. From the brief description offered thus far, it seems as though they hope to turn the movie into more of a character piece, focusing on the life and times of Captain Nemo. Me, I just want to see the Nautilus in full, silver screen glory plunging through the briney deep. In the meantime, let's start some crazy internet rumors about who will get cast as the good Captain. Suggestions?

I honestly didn't even know we were still making movies in 3-D. I mean, I enjoy putting on the glasses and watching old westerns in 3-D as much as the next Film Forum lover, but that's enjoyable because it's a weird novelty, not because I actually think movies are improved by the illusion of things flying out at me. This is an honest question -- do audiences really want to see stuff in 3-D? Beyond the novelty factor, what's appealing about it? Help me out here.

While I'm wasting time asking stupid questions, the ubiquitous Walden Media and their friends at New Line are busy updating and 3-D-ing the crap out of Journey to the Center of the Earth -- only, in an effort to appeal the very busy, non-reading kids of today, they're calling it Journey 3-D. (I'm not actually sure this really counts as a remake -- it's more of an additional adaptation than it is a riff on a specific film.) The screenplay was written by D.V. DeVincentis (he wrote both High Fidelity and Grosse Pointe Blank, which makes this sound like it could be a lot smarter than you'd expect), and Link Brendan Fraser will produce and star as "a geologist who, with his teenage son, discovers a message hidden in an ancient artifact, leading them into a previously unseen world." Did you catch that? A teenage son?! Brendan Fraser, screen dad of the characters he used to play. Holy crap do I feel old.