James Mangold to helm Disney's "Captain Nemo"

26 Feb – James Mangold from "The Wolverine" and "Walk the Line" has just boarded the ship to direct Disney's "Captain Nemo", adapted from Jules Verne's "20,000 Leagues Under The Sea", according to Empire.

Disney had already made a film about Captain Nemo and his warship, The Nautilus, back in 1954. The film, with the same name as the Jules Verne book it is based on, was one of the earliest live-action pictures made by Walt Disney.

It won three Oscars and was also the second highest grossing film of that year.

Disney's upcoming film is a true origin story. The studio's long awaited dream of remaking the origin story in today's effects is looking bright at the moment but will have to wait until the production of "Wolverine 3" is complete. Currently Sebastian Gutierrez from "Snakes on a Plane" is writing the script which Mangold will supervise.

David Fincher was previously working with Disney to produce the film with the latest technology available but he left the project to helm "Gone Girl".

Bryan Singer from the "X-Men" film series has also locked on to a similar project with Fox's version of "20,000 Leagues Under The Sea." Singer's version of Captain Nemo and the Nautilus is likely to start production sooner than Mangold's "Captain Nemo" as he is currently in the works for "Wolverine 3."

Singer has a script by Rick Sordelet and Dan Studney, based on a story by Singer and the writers.

Both Singer and Mangold have directed Hugh Jackman as Wolverine and they will now compete to tell the tale of Captain Nemo and his battle submarine to screens.

(Photo source: collider.com)