Aquaman isn’t the only 2018 tentpole easing into production – Rampage, the video game adaptation of Midway’s arcade classic, has officially set up shop at New Line, and we now know Dwayne Johnson’s character to be a primatologist named Davis Okoye.
News comes hand-in-hand with the first set picture featuring The Rock standing alongside the “extraordinarily intelligent, silverback gorilla” known as George – or, rather, Jason Liles, the 6’9 motion-capture expert who will be bringing the infected simian to life on set. Indeed, George is one of three animals to be grossly mutated as a result of a genetic experiment gone horribly, horribly wrong – a lizard and wolf are also in line to become hulking rage monsters, for those keeping track – and recent revelations have identified Malin Akerman and Jake Lacy’s twisted siblings as the human adversaries of Rampage.
Together, they’re the lifeblood of The Griffin Technologies Group, and it surely won’t be too much longer before we see both Akerman and Lacy conducting rogue tests – tests that yield apocalyptic results – now that the cameras are rolling.
Here’s that synopsis in question:
Primatologist Davis Okoye (Johnson), a man who keeps people at a distance, shares an unshakable bond with George, the extraordinarily intelligent, silverback gorilla who has been in his care since birth. But a rogue genetic experiment gone awry transforms this gentle ape into a raging monster. To make matters worse, it’s soon discovered there are other similarly altered alpha predators. As these newly created monsters tear across North America, destroying everything in their path, Okoye teams with a discredited genetic engineer to secure an antidote, fighting his way through an ever-changing battlefield, not only to halt a global catastrophe but to save the fearsome creature that was once his friend.
Casting-wise, ever since Johnson and director Brad Peyton started to make headway on Rampage, the creative duo – joined by San Andreas alum Beau Flynn – have assembled an enviable roster of Hollywood talent that includes Naomie Harris, Joe Manganiello, The Walking Dead‘s Jeffrey Dean Morgan, P.J. Byrne, Marley Shelton, Breanne Hill, Jack Quaid and Matt Gerald, not to mention Johnson, Akerman and Lacy.
Look for Rampage to cause a Roland Emmrich-like path of cinematic destruction in its journey toward an April 20th, 2018 release.
