The director of Disneys Atlantis: The Lost Empire revealed plans for a planned sequel. Kirk Wise directed the gorgeous animated feature along with Gary Trousdale as a creative partner. Wise talked to Collider about those proposed plans, and it is wild to think about what could have been. Disney was riding high last year off of live-action remakes of its deep catalog of animated films. A lot of people suspected that maybe Atlantis could have another day in the sun. All of those murmurs got louder as Hercules got announced for the live-action treatment earlier this year. While the Atlantis remake might not happen, hearing Wise talk about a fully mapped out sequel has to be both thrilling and a sore moment for fans of the movie.
Believe it or not we did, he revealed. [Story supervisor] John Sanford, Gary and I actually concocted an idea for a sequel to Atlantis. It had no relation to the Atlantis TV series that was being developed at Disney Television Animation. This was a feature-length, full-on, full-blown sequel to Atlantis.
We were going to have a new villain in the story. The villain was going to be wearing big, scary, wool, bulky, World War I-style clothing with a frightening gasmask to obscure its face; a little Darth Vader-esque, Wise continued. And this villain was going to try and retake Atlantis and finish the job that Rourke was unable to accomplish. And the big twist in the climax of the movie is that the villain is unmasked and it turns out to be Helga Sinclair. Plot twist!
Comicbook.coms Charlie Ridgely made the case for why Atlantis is one of the hidden gems on Disney+ earlier this year:
Disney Animation was stuck in a rut for most of the 2000s. Lilo & Stitch and The Princess and the Frog are the only widely remembered Disney movies from that era that werent made my Pixar, he wrote. There were indeed misfires throughout this time, like Bolt, but there was also some bonafide slam dunks that just got completely ignored. Atlantis: The Lost Empire stands out as the best of the bunch. Unlike most other movies from that era, Atlantis has only gotten better with age, proving that it was way ahead of its time. (See also: Treasure Planet)
You can watch the original on Disney+. Would you be interested in a possible Atlantis: The Lost Empire remake? Let us know in the comments!
Disclosure: ComicBook is owned by CBS Interactive, a division of ViacomCBS.
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