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Dwayne Johnson to Star in Jungle Cruise Movie

By on August 21, 2015

Dwayne Johnson will Bring Disney Ride to the Big Screen

Dwayne Johnson Jungle Cruise

Here’s a a river cruise that promises more adventure than a Viking Christmas Market river cruise. Dwayne Johnson is teaming up with Disney to star in Jungle Cruise, based on the classic ride. John Requa and Glenn Ficarra, the duo behind the Will Smith heist movie Focus, have been tapped to write the script, reports hollywoodreporter.com.

The duo, who have directed movies such as Focus and Crazy, Stupid, Love, are not attached to helm at this stage.

Disney has been trying to mount a movie based on the popular ride since at least 2004, during the years when the success of The Pirates of the Caribbean set sail many ride-based projects.

Jungle Cruise is one of the Disneyland’s original rides and has a retro adventure vibe, transporting parkgoers into a melange of African settings such as the Nile River and Congo River, encountering rhinos and hippos and headhunters along the way. There’s an Amazon River section featuring piranhas.

In an earlier version of the script, which was to star Tom Hanks and Tim Allen, it was set in modern times. This new version with Dwayne Johnson brings the project back to its’ period roots in the 1950s. The film will also harken back to movies such as The African Queen, the 1951 classic starring Humphrey Bogart and Katharine Hepburn adventure movie that was one of the original inspirations for the ride.

The project is in early development, and it’s unclear where it would fit into Dwayne Johnson’s busy schedule. The actor is currently shooting the action comedy Central Intelligence for New Line and will shoot Baywatch with Zac Efron early next year. He is also due to reteam with his San Andreas director Brad Peyton for New Line’s adaptation of the video game Rampage.

A new Fast & Furious movie and a Shazam! movie are also in Dwayne Johnson’s future.