Now done giving set orders for the Jurassic World movies, ace director, Colin Trevorrow is hard at work on his next project with hopefully franchise potential like his dinosaur movies all of which have smashed box office records. The project titled Atlantis has now been two years in the works and development is beginning to gain momentum. The upcoming film has added the fast-rising scribe, Charmaine DeGraté, best known for her work on the hit HBO prequel series, The House of Dragons as the film’s screenwriter, the Hollywood Reporter reports. Atlantis will be DeGraté‘s first feature film.

​​​​​Atlantis is being conceived as a fantasy adventure and as its title suggests will be based on the mythical underwater civilization famous for its riches and dominant demigods who conquered much of its neighboring Mediterranean lands until the rise of the Athenians as worthy opponents. However, rather than portray the island as a doomed world, Trevorrow will be reimagining the story from another perspective. Atlantis will instead be depicted as a lost continent in the Indian Ocean which he describes as a “multicultural civilization having its own advanced technology.” In an earlier interview with Empire Magazine, Trevorrow shared how the idea of Atlantis is “the only thing that equals dinosaurs for me” in terms of fascination. “I guess I tend to go back to the past,” the director shared. “But, you know, it was the first time that we had technology. And it’s at a time when we had other kinds of creatures that aren’t around anymore There are just so many things about it that are fascinating to me. So yeah, I’m a deep nerd for it.”

The project was previously in development at Universal Studios with Trevorrow set up as its producer and director. However, Atlantis recently jumped ship to Skydance after Universal expressed disinterest in moving on with the project. The initial development at Universal had Alien: Covenant writer Dante Harper on board to develop the script, however, due to the change, Harper departed the project and was replaced by DeGraté who is already in the middle of conceiving a new direction for the film. The new deal with Skydance will see Trevorrow direct and produce the film under his Metronome Film Company with a Skydance team made up of David Ellison, Dana Goldberg, and Don Granger also on board as producers.

What Other Projects Has Charmaine DeGraté Worked On?

Charmaine DeGraté is quickly becoming an in-demand writer. She is best recognized as being a part of the writing team for HBO‘s House of the Dragons, which has already nabbed a Golden Globe Award for Best TV Series Drama. Her portfolio is rapidly expanding with similar high-profile projects in the works. She is the co-executive producer on Daisy Jones & the Six an upcoming rock band drama starring Riley Keough. DeGraté is also a writer and executive producer on the upcoming Star Wars series, The Acolyte.

Atlantis now counts among the many projects from Skydance currently in production including G.I. Joe: Ever Vigilant and The Family Plan. The studio is behind major projects such as The Old Guard, The Adam Project, and 2022’s highest-grossing film, Top Gun: Maverick.

Casting is yet to begin for Atlantis, but with production taking shape it shouldn’t be long until its key players are named. As always, stay tuned to Collider for future updates on the project.

via Collider