Dwayne Johnson Books A Jungle Cruise

Dwayne Johnson Books A Jungle Cruise
He's aboard the Disney ride adaptation

19 August 2015 | Written by James White | Source: The Hollywood Reporter



At Disney’s big D23 event this past weekend, Dwayne Johnson took the stage to promote the company’s new ‘toon Moana and talked about how it has always been his dream to be part of the Disney “family”, despite already having worked on Race To Witch Mountain and The Game Planfor the Mouse House’s live action department. Still, it appears he’s cementing that status, leaping aboard the long-gestating project aiming to bring the theme park ride Jungle Cruise to screens.

Last talked up back in 2011, when Toy Story Duo Tom Hanks and Tim Allen were attached to a take on the film that had been sitting in dock since 2006, Jungle Cruise is just one of Disney’s attempts to replicate the success of the Pirates franchise. The Hanks/Allen version was to have updated the basic idea – you know, a river cruise encounters various threats and animals – to the modern day, but it appears Disney is now looking to set things back in the past once again, echoing the ride’s African Queen vibe. Focus writer/directors John Requa and Glenn Ficarra are aboard to handle the script duties, but aren’t set to call the shots at the moment. Presumably they’ll mostly be busying themselves writing variants on the typically dreadful spiel rattled off by ship “captains” on the ride.

In any case, this new take on the film is still in its very early days and will have to wait for space on Johnson’s busy schedule. He’s just finished working on Central Intelligence with Kevin Hart and has such films as Baywatch, Shazam!, Rampage and the eighth Fast & Furious entry on his to-do list, along with approximately 59,000 trips to the gym.

 

Yeah, the pirates franchise was questionable when it was first announced. Yet it did remarkably well. Seeing Johnson hopping on board with Jungle Cruise makes me a little optimistic for its success.