The term “slowing down” isn’t in Ridley Scott’s vocabulary, despite already hitting 88 years of age. He already had an upcoming project in development, one that’s big in scale and scope. The movie in question? It’s Treasure Island, according to the podcast interview on The Ridley Scott Archives via World of Reel: Scott’s big-screen adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic adventure novel is now slated to be the most expensive movie of his decades-long directorial career.
His movie already has Hugh Jackman playing Long John Silver, the wily pirate who serves as the main antagonist in the 1883 novel. Ironically, this isn’t the first time Jackman has tackled a pirate character because eleven years ago, he played Blackbeard in Warner Bros.’ costly $150 million flop in Pan. Here’s hoping the box-office fiasco doesn’t continue to curse his latest pirate role in Treasure Island.
So far, Jackman is the only actor with confirmed casting — Cooper and Grant remain in talks. Scott has said filming is set to begin November 1, with the Canary Islands emerging as the likely shooting location.
Owen Cooper, best known for his breakthrough performance in Netflix’s award-winning Adolescence miniseries, is currently the frontrunner to play the central protagonist Jim Hawkins. Scott also wants to include Hugh Grant, who is in talks to play Squire Trelawney. Jack Thorne is in charge of the screenplay, whose credits include the Enola Holmes trilogy and, of course, Adolescence.
Scott confirmed Grant’s target role himself, telling TheWrap: “Hugh Grant I hope to play Squire Trelawney, who’s playing Mr. Pomposity.”
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How Jack Thorne’s Screenplay Reinvents Treasure Island
The story would preserve the foundation of Robert Louis Stevenson’s source material, placing Jim Hawkins front and center as the young boy who found the long-lost treasure map and joins the sea voyage in a quest to find the legendary Captain Flint’s hidden fortune. The journey then turns into a psychological battle of wits, adventure, and betrayal between Jim Hawkins and the sneaky Long John Silver.
But Scott’s version of Treasure Island also has Thorne update the oft-told story with a revisionist take, in line with the director’s signature visual and thematic motif of grounded realism. His upcoming movie also goes so far as to rewrite history by incorporating the real-life historical figure Blackbeard into the story, which is never part of Stevenson’s original work.
Ridley Scott’s History With Nine-Figure Movie Budgets
Since Treasure Island is going to cost a fortune, that means the budget would stretch beyond the $200 million range, no doubt a financial risk for Sony Pictures, considering Scott’s work these days is erratic. But commanding such a huge budget isn’t Scott’s first rodeo. In 2023 and 2024 alone, his Napoleon and Gladiator II both cost a hefty budget. And going back sixteen years earlier, his gritty take on the Russell Crowe-led Robin Hood reportedly required $237 million to make, only to tank at a less-than-favorable $321.7 million at the worldwide box office.
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Every Treasure Island Movie Adaptation, From 1918 to Today
The book-to-film adaptation of Treasure Island stretches way back to the early 20th century, notably the Franklin brothers’ 1918 silent version and the lost film of Lon Chaney and Shirley Mason-starred 1920 take. It wasn’t until 1934 that a feature filmed in sound finally made its mark with Victor Fleming, who would go on to direct the era-defining classics Gone with the Wind and The Wizard of Oz. Then came 1950, when Walt Disney produced his company’s first live-action adaptation that famously immortalized Robert Newton’s iconic portrayal of Long John Silver.
1972, Orson Welles played Long John Silver and was also responsible for co-writing the screenplay in this international co-production. Interestingly, there was a 1990 made-for-television film version where a then-young Christian Bale was cast as Jim Hawkins and Charlton Heston played the antagonist Long John Silver. Finally, the last time we get to see a Treasure Island movie on the big screen was an ambitious sci-fi reimagining titled Treasure Planet in 2002, marking the third time Disney adapted Stevenson’s novel after the 1950 version and 1996’s Muppet Treasure Island. But despite the then-novelty 2D/3D hybrid, Treasure Planet was a bust, at over $109 million on an astounding $140 million budget.
Scott currently has his latest movie, The Dog Stars, out in cinemas – a post-apocalyptic drama that’s been barely profitable since making its debut late last month. Actually, The Dog Stars has completely bombed, opening to just $19.3 million worldwide against a reported $70–110 million budget (per Collider), making it one of Scott’s biggest box-office flops in more than two decades.
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