August 7, 2007 Variety announced that Gianni Nunnari and Nick Weschler optioned the rights to Warren Ellis’ graphic novel Ocean. According to the trade, Nunnari and Weschler plan to adapt the property for a “big-scale alien thriller.”
Nunnari previously produced Zack Snyder’s adaptation of Frank Miller’s 300 and Martin Scorsese’s Academy Award-winning The Departed. Weschler executive-produced Darren Aranofksy’s The Fountain and Spike Lee’s The 25th Hour. The pair recently teamed up to produce Miller’s Ronin, with Stomp the Yard helmer Sylvain White signed on to direct.
Ocean follows the travails of Nathan Kane, a United Nations weapons inspector who journeys to Jupiter’s ocean moon, Europa, to examine the supposed coffins of an alien race and a cache of weapons that are capable of destroying an entire planet. As Kane attempts to uncover the true story behind these amazing discoveries, he and his team is threatened by a corporate conglomerate that will stop at nothing to keep the information secret.
Courtesy of: http://www.ign.com/articles/2007/08/07/ellis-ocean-optioned