Could We Get Two Versions of “20,000 Leagues”?

The hottest name in Hollywood appears to be Jules Verne.

There are two potential big-screen versions of his classic novel “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea” in development for the silver screen.

The first is a reboot project at Disney, to be directed by David Ficher with a script by Scott Z. Burns. This is the project we told you about a few months ago called “Nemo” and directed by McG. Disney decided to jettison this version when Rich Ross took over running the studio, citing that the proposed origin story for Nemo was “too dark.”

The news project came together after Fincher approached Disney’s new production head Sean Bailey about wanting to direct a big-budget tentpole film for the studio.

The project was being developed under the radar as Bailey settled into his position under new studio topper Rich Ross, then gained steam in the past few days with Fincher and Burns entering talks for deals.

And now there’s another “20,000 Leagues” in development over at 20th Century Fox.

Producers Ridley and Tony Scott and their Scott Free Prods. are developing a “Leagues” project for the studio with a script by “Clash of the Titans” co-writer Travis Beacham. And they’ve been talking with director Timur Bekmambetov (“Wanted”) about helming the big-budget adaptation, though there’s no deal for Timur yet.

The original novel is in the public domain so both studios can develop a big-screen adaptation without having to secure rights or conflicting with the other’s project.