Who’s been waiting all their lives to see a mash up of The Little Mermaid and Flash Gordon? All of us right? Or at least that’s what the makers of Empires of the Deep seem to be banking on with their undersea epic three years in the making.
Per Twitch, this story of waterlogged lovers caught between feuding factions in an underwater kingdom has been in various stages of production since 2009 when Chinese real estate mogul and multi-millionaire Jon Jiang wrote the script and went looking for talent. He found it in star Monica Bellucci, but she quickly bailed. He found it in producer Irvin Kershner, but he came to his senses. He dropped the talent requirement and found director Pitof, but even he passed.
It’s really time to sit down and rethink things when the director of Catwoman says “no thanks” to your script.
But Jiang persevered and somehow nabbed a single recognizable name to anchor his cast and crew of otherwise unknowns. Olga Kurylenko joined director Michael French and the CGI charlatans wizards at E-Imagine Studio, and we now have our first real glimpse of the result.
Check out the epic-ish trailer for Empires of the Deep below and see what $130m can buy when you have no goddamn clue what you’re doing.
Seriously, though. Where’s Sponge Bob?
We poke fun because, and let’s be honest, it does not look like money well spent. But that doesn’t necessarily mean the movie won’t be entertaining. The creature and costume designs are creative enough, and if the Flash Gordon feel of the trailer translates to the film itself we may find ourselves chuckling along with the adventure. And if nothing else a wet Kurylenko is never a bad thing.
Empires of the Deep hits theaters DVD Chinese television sometime in the future.