As the biggest and highest-paid movie star on the planet, Dwayne Johnson doesn’t tend to do intimate dramas or low-budget independent films. The vast majority of the 48 year-old’s output sees him headlining effects-heavy action blockbusters that always do reliably solid business at the box office, where he essentially plays a variation of the same established persona over and over again.
If you include upcoming trio Jungle Cruise, Red Notice and Black Adam, then Johnson has starred in sixteen movies since 2014 and only three of those have cost less than $100 million to produce, one of which saw him playing himself in a brief cameo as part of professional wrestling biopic Fighting with My Family.
The man formerly known as The Rock certainly knows what his wheelhouse is and seems content to remain firmly inside it, which is good news because we’ve now heard from our sources – the same ones that told us an Extraction sequel was in the works before it was confirmed, and that a Witcher prequel is in development – that Netflix are keen to retain his services and continue to churn out mega-budget blockbusters.
According to our intel, following the success of Ryan Reynolds’ 6 Underground and the high hopes that the company has for the Hobbs & Shaw stars reuniting in Red Notice, Netflix want Johnson to develop more starring vehicles exclusively for them. Having already signed on for comic book adaptation Ball & Chain opposite Emily Blunt, it looks like the leaders in the streaming wars want to tie down both of the highest-paid actors in the industry for the foreseeable future, with Reynolds also having numerous projects in various stages of development at Netflix.
Several TV shows may have bitten the bullet over the last couple of weeks, but Netflix appear to be doubling down on their efforts to become the new go-to destination for the biggest names in Hollywood to star in high-profile action epics, and more will no doubt follow suit if they’ve got both Ryan Reynolds and Dwayne Johnson on board.
