Jungle Cruise Review: 6 Ups & 4 Downs
Downs...
4. The Lukewarm Franchise Potential
Disney spent a stonking $200 million on this movie, and so between this and the way it's been marketed, it's painfully clear that they want Jungle Cruise to be their next major tentpole franchise on the level of, say, Pirates of the Caribbean.
And while it's certainly a fun film, it doesn't quite persuade that a hot new action-adventure IP has been born.
Unlike other similarly-themed franchises like Pirates of the Caribbean, The Mummy, and Jumanji, Jungle Cruise doesn't really carve out an identity of its own.
For starters, is anyone going to remember the names of any of the central characters after watching this movie? Between this and how willingly the film chugs along a formulaic genre track, the argument for a host of sequels is mild at best.
That's not to say that the idea of Jungle Cruise 2 seems immediately offputting, but simply that this film really needed to work harder to truly make audiences eager for a follow-up.
As always, though, it'll ultimately depend on one thing above all others: how the film performs commercially.