Randall Wallace Boards the Nautilus

It's weird to imagine that six months ago, McG was one of the "golden boys" of Hollywood. Terminator: Salvation was building up to be one of 2009's biggest releases headlined by Christian Bale (who himself was coming off The Dark Knight) and a prime Memorial Day weekend release. Everyone wanted the guy to helm one of their properties, and it seems Disney wanted him the most by hiring him for 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea: Captain Nemo.

Cut to now with Salvation turning out to be a huge box-office misfire in the U.S. ($122 million gross vs. $200+ million budget = ouch) while the film does solid numbers overseas which was to be expected. But it's still not enough to ensure that any additional Terminator installments will get the greenlight.

With that in mind, I assumed that we wouldn't be seeing much from McG or Captain Nemo anytime soon. Much to my surprise, Disney still appears to be serious about getting Nemo on screens and with McG still sitting in the director's chair.

The trades report that Randall Wallace (who most of us like to remember for Braveheart and We Were Soldiers, and forget for Pearl Harbor and The Man in the Iron Mask) has been brought on-board for further rewrites on the project. This is now months after the studio acquired then "It boy" screenwriter Justin Marks for his own set of touch-ups for a few weeks.

I still won't hold my breath waiting for this to happen. Production is said to commence in the fall for a Christmas 2010 release. But we're still in the dark towards who will play the title character. Yes, I know that McG foamed at the mouth about nabbing down Will Smith. But those rumors of Dwayne Johnson sound more plausible - especially considering his already-successful relationship with the Mouse and the fact that his paycheck wouldn't cost a couple of vital organs like Smith will.