Tom Wheeler's upcoming book, Cutlass Island, hasn't even hit the stands yet, but it's already been picked up by Regency for the adapting. Regency picked up the project from a pitch by Wheeler about two shipwrecked brothers who discover a lost world of mythological and magical creatures.

While this sounds like it's been done before this one has one thing other projects like Jurassic Park didn't: Abraham Lincoln. According to The Hollywood Reporter good old Abe signed a "secret piece of legislation" in 1863 called the Unique Lands and Species Act, which apparently was created to protect mythological and magical creatures.

From the minor details available it looks like Lincoln's legislation created the titular island in order to keep these creatures safe. The two brothers, presumably in present day, stumble onto the document and the island. Since they are described as "shipwrecked" I wonder if the brothers find the document and then get shipwrecked in trying to find the island, or if they get shipwrecked on the island and in doing so also find the document. Either way the brothers have to fight off evil forces who would exploit the island for their own uses.

Night at the Museum's Shawn Levy will be one of the producers which shows some promise for this family film.

Wheeler's last script, The Arcanum, is currently residing at Miramax and is a turn-of-the-century mystery in which Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Harry Houdini and H.P. Lovecraft join forces to protect civilization from dark forces. Both projects sound highly intriguing.

Labels: Cutlass Island, News, The Arcanum, Tom Wheeler