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Bryan Singer Is Directing a 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea Movie, Too

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Bryan Singer. Photo: JB Lacroix/WireImages

According to Bryan Singer’s Instagram, your No. 1 source for Bryan Singer news, the X-Men director’s next film is a retelling of Jules Verne’s 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, which he promises will be “an epic and emotional adventure for all ages!” (Hmmm.) Singer has a completed script — or, at the very least, a good-looking title page — from Rick Sordelet and Dan Studney, and has reportedly been shopping the project to Fox. Because this is Hollywood, Singer’s version is the second adaptation of 20,000 Leagues floating around Hollywood; there’s also a David Fincher version for Disney that’s been lurking in the development depths for years. It helps that Verne’s story is in the public domain, just like Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book, which will also see two different adaptations hit screens in the next few years. Seventy years after J.K. Rowling dies, your great-great-grandchildren are going to go through this exact same thing with Harry Potter. But not you — you’ll be dead!

Here’s the script:

Photo: @bryanjaysinger

And here’s the caption:

It’s my 50th birthday (ouch), and I just put the finishing touches on the script for my next film. A story I’ve wanted to retell since childhood. I promise this will be an epic and emotional adventure for all ages! An adventure very dear to my heart.  Not abandoning the #xmen universe. Very excited about #xmenapocalypse and beyond. #julesverne #20000leaguesunderthesea #nemo

Bryan Singer Is Directing a 20,000 Leagues Movie