Empires Of The Deep was billed as a blockbuster the would be China’s answer to Avatar, but here’s why it will likely never be seen. Avatar was a longtime passion project for director James Cameron, and he waited over a decade for CGI to reach a level where he felt his ambitions could be realized. Prior to the film’s release many were predicting Avatar would end up being a box-office flop and the 3D craze it was meant to inspire would be short-lived. Instead, it became the highest-grossing film of all time - and was only recently surpassed by Avengers: Endgame - and inspired a glut of 3D blockbusters.
James Cameron will be testing audiences’ love for the property with the upcoming Avatar 2 and 3, with two more entries planned beyond that. In recent years, China has produced a number of notable box-office hits, including Wolf Warrior 2, Stephen Chow’s The Mermaid and The Wandering Earth, which arrived on Netflix in 2019. One movie that was billed as being China’s reply to Avatar was Empires Of The Deep. This epic is set in an underwater kingdom at war, which features mermaids and crab monsters duking it out.
Empires Of The Deep was a pet project for property developer Jon Jiang, who wrote the script and wished for it to be an international 3D spectacle the likes of which had never been seen. Production proved to be a mess, however, with original director Pitof (Catwoman) leaving during pre-production and no less than three different filmmakers taking the helm at different points. The budget was originally set to be $50 million but due to various cost overruns, it’s said to have ballooned to over $130 million. After seeking actresses like Monica Bellucci or Sharon Stone for the lead mermaid, Olga Kurylenko (Quantum Of Solace) accepted the role.
After a messy production, the first trailer for Empires Of The Deep landed in 2012. Far from looking like a blockbuster epic, it featured cheap costumes, bad acting and outside of a few shots, unimpressive CGI. After the trailer - which predicted a 2013 release - was released things went very quiet with Empires Of The Deep. While the film reportedly finished post-production, it’s now been a decade since it was first announced and there’s still no sign of it ever being released.
Empires Of The Deep was also billed as the first underwater 3D blockbuster, but even that selling point has since been taken away by Aquaman. Some of the battle scenes glimpsed in the Empires Of The Deep trailer resemble the finale of Aquaman in a lot of ways, though the former doesn’t look well in the comparison. With the film having virtually no chance of recouping its massive budget, it’s likely Empires Of The Deep will remain on the shelf for the foreseeable future.
Next: Does Aquaman Have A Post-Credits Scene (& How Many)?
