Co-directing the film KON-TIKI, which told the story of a Norwegian explorer's 1947 journey across the Pacific Ocean in a balsawood raft, led Joachim Rønning to the job of co-directing the fifth film in the PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN franchise, PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: DEAD MEN TELL NO TALES, which was an $800 million success at the worldwide box office. Working on the water has gone very well for Rønning, so it's no surprise that he is aiming to make one of his next directorial projects another film that will be set at sea.
Rønning is attached to direct a sci-fi thriller project called HERE THERE BE MONSTERS for MRC, the independent studio that was behind last year's BABY DRIVER.
No details have been revealed about the script Rønning has written with his brother Andreas, all that has been said is that the story does "include water".
That clue and the title are enough to stir convincing speculation that this is actually the latest development for a project that has been floating around for several years. A project set at sea and titled HERE THERE BE MONSTERS was first announced in 2011, with Robert Zemeckis set to direct from a screenplay by Brian Helgeland. The film was said to center on
Revolutionary War naval hero John Paul Jones — except with sea monsters.
Zemeckis soon left HERE THERE BE MONSTERS. Brad Bird showed some interest in it, then moved on, opening the door for Jaume Collet-Serra to enter negotiations to direct. Bradley Cooper was in the running to play the lead character,
John Paul Jones, who is wrongly stripped of his British naval commission and hired by a shipping magnate to investigate the disappearance of his merchant ships in the North Atlantic. Soon enough, Jones and his crew suspect that it's the handiwork of a sea monster and have to fight to survive it.
The news that Collet-Serra was in negotiations was followed by almost six years of silence… and now HERE THERE BE MONSTERS resurfaces with the Rønning brothers working on it.
We'll see if this iteration of HERE THERE BE MONSTERS has better luck making it to production.
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