With James Cameron recently teasing that “Fantastic Voyage” was “coming very soon,” one has to look back at the tumultuous journey this film has taken since its inception in the mid-90s. Will it ever get made?
One of the many filmmakers attached to this film, dubbed as “the holy grail of untapped IP,” was Roland Emmerich. He was given by Cameron a chance to take a crack at it only to quickly exit the project.
At Comic-Con, Emmerich told a panel (via THR), that the reason why he left the “Fantastic Voyage” remake was due to Cameron’s controlling nature over the whole thing. Responding quite bluntly, Emmerich said, “James Cameron is very overbearing, and so I, at one point, just gave up. Because it’s like, ‘Is it your movie or my movie?’”
We were in very beginning stages. Because I said, ‘Gosh, why is he so overbearing?’ I have to say, I do my stuff, and when I can’t do my stuff, I’m totally not interested. As simple as that. So when somebody else wants to say something to me and is more powerful than me, I drop out
In the end, I don’t believe Emmerich (“Godzilla,” “The Day After Tomorrow”) would have been the right fit for the remake. Other filmmakers previously attached included Shawn Levy and Paul Greengrass.
Raquel Welch starred in the 1966 original sci-fi adventure which had a scientist discovering technology that can miniaturize matter by shrinking humans. Cameron has been attached to this project since the late 90s, and, in 2016, hired Guillermo del Toro to direct.
Cameron did get as far as writing a screenplay, but after completing “Titanic,” his mind began to concentrate on “Avatar.” Del Toro still hasn’t given up on it — he reaffirmed his interest three years ago. Last year, he had mentioned that his next two films, after “Dr. Frankenstein,” which is currently in production, would be the animated ‘Buried Giant’, and an unnamed live-action effort. Maybe the latter was “Fantastic Voyage”?
Meanwhile, Cameron will likely not be directing ‘Fantastic Voyage’ — he’s knee deep in ‘Avatar’ In a new interview with Le Figaro, Cameron says he’s not quitting Avatar. He plans to “continue working on the franchise until 2031.”
Still no distributor for "Bucking Fastard," "Alpha Gang," "The Last Photograph," "Closing Night," and "The Life and Deaths of Wilson Shedd." The issue seems to be quality more than a lack of willingness to buy.