I’m praying that this movie is more in the mold of Pirates of the Caribbean than Tomorrowland. It doesn’t need to be a brilliant work, it just needs to be fun.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the script is coming from John Requa and Glenn Ficarra (Focus) and is going to be a period piece similar to The African Queen in tone. Having been on the Jungle Cruise ride — which, if you’ve been lucky enough to avoid, is a cruise through a generic “Africa” full of animatronic animals and horrible puns from your guide — I can safely say that setting it in the past is really the only way to make it work. And I 100% endorse a film that is just two hours of Dwayne Johnson telling puns.
Plus, Johnson’s really excited:
[Disney production president] Sean Bailey and Disney have been awesome partners and now the fun part begins ... We’re starting to put in the work with Requa and Ficarra and our creative team. Fired up about this one. Here we go.
If only his pure charisma could carry a film, we’d be guaranteed a good time.
Contact the author at katharine@io9.com.