Word broke back in August of 2015 that Dwayne Johnson was attached to star in Jungle Cruise, a live-action feature adaptation of the iconic Disney theme park ride.
It’s been a little quiet on that front since, with Johnson continuing to line up project after project and locking himself in as one of the hardest working individuals in showbiz. Well, you can now officially insert Jungle Cruise to Johnson’s busy schedule.
As THR reports, it has been confirmed that Johnson will be taking the lead in Disney‘s upcoming Jungle Cruise movie, which he’ll also be producing with Dany Garcia under their increasingly reputable Seven Bucks Productions banner. The film is set to start shooting in April 2018.
The Jungle Cruise ride takes park-goers on a simulated riverboat cruise down several major rivers of Asia, Africa and South America. Guests board replicas of tramp steamers from a 1930s British explorers’ lodge and are taken on a voyage past Audio-Animatronic jungle animals.
Several drafts of the screenplay have been delivered by a number of writers, with Star Trek Beyond scribes J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay handing in the most recent.
“What really got me excited when I was reading it, was the bigger story here is so much more than just the words on the page,” Johnson wrote in an Instagram post confirming the news. “It’s the massive opportunity to create and deliver this level of quality and FUN to families around the globe. The movie, the ride, the fantastical world, the experience.”
Disney is now in the process of finding Jungle Cruise‘s director.
Johnson’s upcoming films include The Fate of the Furious, Baywatch, and Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle. He also has a number of projects on the horizon, including Rampage, Skyscraper, San Andreas 2, Doc Savage and Black Adam. Plus, he’s rumoured to be leading a Big Trouble in Little China remake. In other news, Dwayne Johnson revealed to have multiple clones.
