Johnny Depp's "The Vault"

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The first issue of Sam Sarkar’s three-part comic "The Vault" only hit stands earlier this week, and already the book’s film rights have been snatched up.

Johnny Depp is the forward thinker who option the rights to the Image comic book through his Infinitum Nihil production shingle, The Hollywood Reporter reports.

Sarkar’s story, drawn by artist Garrie Gastonny, reportedly follows deep-sea divers off the coast of Nova Scotia who release wicked forces when they uncover a sarcophagus with what the trade is referring to as “unusual remains.”



Sarkar, in interviews, has likened the tomb at the bottom of the sea to Pandora’s box. Comic fans eagerly anticipated another collaboration between Sarkar and Gastonny after their work on the Excalibur graphic novel, Caliber: First Canon of Justice (which also is ripe for a feature-film adaptation).

But will the finished Vault product end up being closer to Sanctum or The Abyss?

That depends on the director hired by Depp to dive to great depths and unearth this science-fiction fantasy. Too bad he won’t be able to lure James Cameron out of the aptly titled Pandora, where he’s plotting back-to-back Avatar sequels, to helm this story.

The Vault is the latest picture lined up for Depp’s Infinitum Nihil company, after a Paul Revere picture and a possible mounting of the 1970s made-for-TV mystery thriller The Night Stalker.

As the Pirates of the Caribbean star nears 50, and contemplates the next stage of his entertainment career, it’s interesting to see what material catches his producing eye.