LOS ANGELES: It seems like Disney has found a captain for its ‘Jungle Cruise’.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, ‘The Shallows’ helmer Jaume Collet-Serra will direct Dwayne Johnson in the action-adventure based on the classic Disneyland ride.
While park-goers are taken on a journey through the rivers of the world, from Africa’s Nile and Congo rivers to South America’s Amazon, exact plot details for the feature are being kept under wraps.
Johnson welcomed the director onboard by sharing a tweet, which read, “I'm a gut & instincts guy. 1st time I met Jaume, I was confident he was the one. Visionary/edgy filmmaker. Excited 4 the fans #JungleCruise.”
Johnson will also produce the adventure project with Dany Garcia, the co-CEO of the duo’s Seven Bucks Productions banner, which will next release ‘Jumanji’.
John Fox and Beau Flynn will also produce. The studio is shooting for a spring 2018 start of production.
Collet-Serra was in the running to direct the 'Suicide Squad' sequel for Warner Bros/D.C., but according to some reports the director is now out of the running to direct the ‘Suicide Squad’ sequel.
Johnson has been attached to star in and produce the Jungle Cruise project since 2015, tweeting about his intentions to find a “visionary” director for the project, one “who can balance huge action with comic charm,” back in April.
Past big screen adaptations of beloved Disney parks properties include 2015’s ‘Tomorrowland’, 2003’s ‘The Haunted Mansion’, and the successful ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ movie franchise, which has amassed over 4.5 billion USD worldwide across five films released over the last 14 years.