James Cameron has shared an update on one of his long-gestating passion projects, a remake of “Fantastic Voyage,” hinting that an announcement could be coming “very soon.”
We’re working with a director on a new script and it could move forward in a big way this coming year.
Raquel Welch starred in the 1966 sci-fi adventure, which followed scientists who develop technology capable of shrinking humans to microscopic size. Cameron has been attached to the remake since the late 1990s and, in 2016, hired Guillermo del Toro to direct.
Other filmmakers who came close to directing include Roland Emmerich in the 2000s, Paul Greengrass — who planned to shoot the film in 3D — as well as Shawn Levy in the 2010s, before he exited the project a few years later and del Toro took over.
Cameron did complete a screenplay, but after finishing “Titanic,” his focus shifted to “Avatar.” As recently as three years ago, del Toro said he hadn’t given up on the project, reaffirming his interest in directing the film. Since then, as recently as this fall, del Toro mentioned having three projects lined up, including “The Buried Giant” and “Fury,” while declining to reveal the third.
Earlier this year, David S. Goyer shared that he was still hoping that he, Cameron and del Toro could get their version of ‘Fantastic Voyage’ made:
We were in prep on Fantastic Voyage and it was very close. A production designer was on and all of the above. … Fantastic Voyage got derailed with the-then regime at Fox, but God, it was a good one. It was such a great experience working with Guillermo and James Cameron on that, and then my experience working on that led to my working on Terminator: Dark Fate with Cameron and we got along great. I’ve known Guillermo forever. I hope one day we can figure out.
Doesn’t that sound like del Toro is still attached? Sure does to me.
Cameron, meanwhile, remains knee-deep in the “Avatar” franchise and is next expected to complete a script for the next “Terminator” movie. He also an adaptation of the fantasy novel “The Devils” in the works, as well as “Ghosts of Hiroshima.”