Ever since Pirates of the Caribbean became the surprise hit of 2003, Disney have eyed their Jungle Cruise theme park ride as a big potential movie tentpole. Several scripts have been written and, most likely, several wildly different plans and strategies for how to make a mostly non-narrative ride work on the big screen have been mused, but nothing has yet embarked out of dock. Not yet, anyway... The Hollywood Reporter reveals tonight that Disney are giving their Jungle Cruise movie dream a fresh crew with Hollywood's favourite muscles and quips star Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson now attached to lead an action/adventure movie adaptation, reportedly set in the ride's period roots of the early 20th century/The African Queen era. Focus and Crazy Stupid Love's writer-director duo John Requa and Glenn Ficarra have been tasked with coming up with the cinematic story for one of Disneyland's original attractions which takes visitors on a journey through the African jungle, narrowly avoiding potential death-traps in the form of hippos, elephants, poisonous snakes, piranhas and locals with spears, among other things. Sequa and Ficarra are currently only set to write and not direct, though that could change once they nail down a story. The last we heard about a Jungle Cruise movie was way back in 2011 when Toy Story buddies Tom Hanks and Tim Allen were going to team for a contemporary live-action adventure/comedy, from the writer of Shrek. That venture seemingly never made it very far as no director was ever attached. With The Rock enjoying the peak of his career right now with several recent hits notched on his belt, this one could move fairly swiftly if a script can be nailed that Disney and Johnson are happy on. Having been on the ride several times myself, it's a fun adventure which can be made or spoiled by whichever Disney park tour guide you luck out on... the enjoyment coming from how creative they can be with the loose script and basic blueprint of the dialogue. That lack of a set story was Pirates of the Caribbean's blessing as it allowed the screenwriters to go deep into historical seafare and specifically pirate cinema lore to craft a thrilling action/adventure that succeeded as clever family entertainment and a superior genre movie. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9WFfHMwo_Lg Will Jungle Cruise benefit from the same lack of rules? Guess we'll see how creative these screenwriters can be but convincing The Rock to lead your movie ain't a bad first step in the casting department, at least.
Matt Holmes is the co-founder of What Culture, formerly known as Obsessed With Film. He has been blogging about pop culture and entertainment since 2006 and has written over 10,000 articles.
