Disney is turning their popular Jungle Cruise ride into a live-action movie, and it’s set to star Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.
The news was revealed today via The Wrap, who adds that Focus screenwriters John Requa and Glenn Ficarra will be penning the script. A director is currently not attached to the project.
The Jungle Cruise ride, which has been at the original Disneyland park since its opening 60 years ago, takes guests on a boat ride through the jungle. The skipper who operates the boat cracks pun-fueled jokes as you make your way along the river. It’s a cute attraction, but the skippers can be totally hit or miss — some days you’ll have a great one with an original personality, and some days you’ll have one who sounds like all the others.
But it’s a Disney classic, so who can complain?
In recent years Disneyland began re-theming the Jungle Cruise during the holiday season. The seasonal overlay is called Jingle Cruise, but the only thing that’s different about it is its name and the number of holiday lights decorated around the attraction.
At Disney’s D23 Expo over the weekend, Dwayne Johnson appeared during Disney’s animation presentation to tout his role in 2016’s Moana. The actor spoke about how happy he was to finally be a part of the Disney family. Now, he has two Mouse House projects to be thrilled about.
It’ll be interesting to see what Disney has in mind for their Jungle Cruise movie. Will The Rock be a skipper who spends his life giving people a tour of the jungle? Will he be one of the animatronic creatures along the river who longs for a more fulfilling life? Will he be the guy who helps guests get onto the boats?
Disney has had a mixed bag of results when it comes to turning their theme park rides into movies. Pirates of the Caribbean is obviously their most successful ride-turned-movie — a fifth installment titled Dead Men Tell No Tales will be hitting theaters in 2017 starring Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom, Kaya Scodelario, and Brenton Thwaites.
And don’t forget! Disney is working on a live-action Haunted Mansion movie starring Ryan Gosling and directed by Guillermo Del Toro.