Two X-Men Directors to Create Separate 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea Movies

Image Credit: Disney

X-Men Director Bryan Singer announced earlier this month that he'll be directing an adaptation of Jules Verne's classic undersea adventure novel, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, after he's finished with X-Men: Apocalypse.

Speaking to Deadline, the director expressed his enthusiasm over the project:

I'm incredibly excited to be working with my friends at Fox, with whom I've had such a long and fruitful relationship. Ever since I was a boy and first discovered the 1870 Jules Verne novel, I have dreamt of retelling this classic story.

Now, just weeks into Singer's announcement, another X-Men director has shown interest in making the same Jules Verne-inspired movie. James Mangold, who helmed 2013's The Wolverine and is working on the R-rated Wolerine 3, has announced that he'll be working on a Disney film titled Captain Nemo, most probably after TheWolerine sequel.

Mangold's announcement had come at an interesting time, but as concerned as fans might be, Deadline has pointed out that Captain Nemo will have a different approach with Singer's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. The website reported that Mangold's Captain Nemo will be an "origin story".

By retrospect, Singer said his Verne-inspired film "contains not only the original characters of Captain Nemo, Ned Land and Professor Aronnax, but also some new and original characters and Sci Fi plot twists culminating in a timeless adventure for all ages."

These descriptions suggest that Mangold's "origin" film, Captain Nemo, will be more of a classic adaptation while Singer's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea will contain a modern feel to it.

There's no telling whether any of the films will do well at the box office or which film will hit theaters first, but it would probably take a lot of effort on the second film's marketing to bring in audiences if the first film becomes a flop.

In any case, I'm hoping the best results for the two. For the sake of the epic literary work, I wish both films will exceed expectations. 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea has such rich content for modern filmmaking to explore and it would be a shame to beloved characters and narratives of the epic novel not be given their due recognition in cinemas.