20,000 Leagues Concept Art Featuring Will Smith Revealed

CBR

20,000 Leagues Concept Art Makes Us Wish Will Smith's Remake Had Happened

By Sarah Cooke

Published Mar 18, 2019

Concept art from a 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea remake film finds Will Smith and some other cast members wearing futuristic diving suits.

Charlie Wen, Marvel Studios' former Head of Visual Development, shared concept art from a 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea remake film that has been in various stages of production for over 10 years. While the project is no longer moving forward, Wen's designs remain, and he has now shared one such piece on Instagram.

The artwork shows the cast standing together, wearing futuristic diving suits. “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea remake with Will Smith over 10 years ago... Could be a while to see the light of day?” Wen wrote on the post.

In 2014, David Fincher, who was initially on board to direct the film, said, "It became very hard to appease the anxieties of Disney’s corporate culture with the list of names that allowed everyone to sleep at night," in regards to the production's search for a Brad Pitt-level star to anchor the adaptation. Fincher went on to assert that Disney’s approach to the film and its potential at the box office doomed its production.

The classic Jules Verne novel was adapted as a film by Disney in 1954, and Bryan Singer was reportedly on board to direct another adaptation of it for 20th Century Fox back in 2016, though little progress seems to have been made as far as production.