Disney Fan's Live-Action 'Atlantis' Casting Goes Viral

With the rash of live-action Disney remakes like Beauty and the Beast and The Jungle Book in [...]

By John Connor Coulston

With the rash of live-action Disney remakes like Beauty and the Beast and The Jungle Book in recent years, fans are clamoring their favorite animated classics to make it to the big screen. However, one movie often left out of the conversation is 2001's Atlantis: The Lost Empire.

One of the studio's last theatrical films to feature 2D-animation, it's known as one of Disney's most unique pictures. It tells the story of an ensemble crew who sets off in an underwater expedition to find the lost city of Atlantis.

It's more mature than most of Disney's animated projects, and opts out of musical numbers to focus on the colorful ensemble cast that included Michael J. Fox, James Garner, Leonard Nimoy and Jim Varney.

While that cast was wonderful, it would need to be overhauled for a live-action adaptation, being as many cast members are now too old or deceased.

With its mild box office success (which led to an abandoned TV spin-off and ride) Atlantis isn't often brought up in the live action discussion. However, one Twitter user's spot-on fan casting stirred up the conversation.

The Dream Team

Kenny Jones shared the above casting collages, and they received more than 100,000 interactions on the platform.

The ensemble includes Andrew Garfield as lead character Milo Thatch, Zoe Saldana as the Atlantean princess, Tommy Lee Jones as the rough-and-tough Commander Rourke and Morgan Freeman as the wise Atlantean king.

Other dream castings include Charlize Theron as the mysterious lieutenant, Helen Mirren as the sarcastic radio operator, Terry Crews as the bright and muscular Doctor Sweet and Harry Potter actor Timothy Spall as the mole-like geologist.

While the list was revered, several commenters chimed in with some substitutions that fans loved just as much as the original list.

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Cole Sprouse as Milo Thatch

One of the most requested substitutions was Riverdale star Cole Sprouse as Milo Thatch.

The main reason for the support for the former Suite Life of Zack & Cody star was a previously shared Halloween costume for the character.

He obviously has a love for the original film and the physical similarities of the original character to match. With that all that in mind, Sprouse would be a fitting addition to a dream remake cast.

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Michelle Rodriguez as Audrey Ramirez

The next prevalent name in the conversation was Michelle Rodriguez.

Due to her similar role in the Fast and Furious franchise, Rodriguez would be a perfect match for Audrey Ramirez, the crews gear-smart mechanic. Especially if you look back at Jacqueline Obradors' original voice performance, it's almost impossible to believe it's not Rodriguez playing the character.

The casting was brought up my several onlookers with thousands in support each time.

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Other Choices

Some casting choices thrown around were Zoë Kravitz as the princess, Kida. She's pulled off the white hair look of the character in the past, so that helps her odds.

Another name thrown in the conversation is Danny Devito as the mole-man. While Devito hasn't done a character this wild since being the Penguin in Batman Returns, it'd be great to see him jump back into film after his long stint on It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia.

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Will It Ever Happen?

Despite the excitement from the cult fan-base here's no telling if/when we'd ever get an Atlantis remake. Maybe Warner Bros. upcoming Aquaman movie will inspire a whole rash of underwater films, and Atlantis could be an possible project Disney could pursue.

Especially if their more logical upcoming remakes of The Lion King and Mulan disappoint, maybe the House of Mouse will want to shake things up with a lower-profile property.

Regardless, if there's ever a new Atlantis: The Lost Empire movie, any of these cast members would make excellent additions.

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