Disney have tried to replicate the Pirates of the Caribbean formula on several occasions in the past, but the studio will no doubt be hoping that the presence of the world’s biggest movie star will see Dwayne Johnson‘s Jungle Cruise succeed where others have failed.
The Sorcerer’s Apprentice was reminiscent of Pirates with magic, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time took a similar concept and transplanted it to the desert, while The Lone Ranger gathered the original trilogy’s director, writers, producer and star for a trip to the Old West, and none of them performed to expectations at the box office.
Jungle Cruise isn’t expected to do massive numbers looking at the current state of the theatrical industry and the fact that it’s simultaneously releasing on Disney Plus Premier Access, but the most recent trailer for the big budget adventure bore more than a few passing similarities to Gore Verbinski’s Curse of the Black Pearl.
Johnson plays a ship captain roped into an adventure with Emily Blunt’s scientist on the hunt for the Tree of Life, where they run into several adversaries including Edgar Ramirez’s rival expeditionist and what looks to be a scenery devouring Jesse Plemons as a deranged German aristocrat.
If director Jaume Collet-Serra pulls it off, then we’re in for a fun time given the old school vibes and obvious chemistry between the two leads, and the filmmaker has evidently done enough to win Dwayne Johnson‘s trust seeing as he was recruited to helm Black Adam not long after production on Jungle Cruise wrapped back September 2018, before it was hit by a series of lengthy delays as a result of the Coronavirus pandemic, eventually leading to a hybrid release on July 30th.
