Casting is beginning to heat up on New Line’s big-budget Rampage movie. Two weeks ago, we brought you the news that Naomie Harris (Skyfall, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End) had closed a deal to join Dwayne Johnson, and now The Hollywood Reporter has identified two new recruits: The Batman‘s Joe Manganiello and Marley Shelton.
Negotiations are ongoing, but should a deal place, Shelton will play the part of a scientist and astronaut – not unlike Harris, who signed on as an unnamed geneticist with an unflinching moral code – while Joe Manganiello is set to call upon his action credentials to play the leader of a private military group. Beyond that, details are thin on the ground, but we understand Dwayne Johnson is the animal-loving hero that stands between Rampage‘s trio of monsters and total destruction.
The project also heralds something of a creative reunion for the former WWE superstar, given director Brad Peyton is attached at the helm. Beau Flynn will also produce the 2018 video game movie, completing New Line’s talented trifecta following their work on San Andreas and Journey 2: The Mysterious Island.
Loosely based on the eponymous 1980s video game – only with more heart and emotion, according to Peyton – Rampage unleashes three impossibly large goliaths upon the United States: one gorilla, one alligator and a snarling wolf. They’re grossly mutated, and they’re hungry, eventually leaving a path of destruction that stretches from one end of the country to the other. Can Dwayne Johnson’s hero bring an end to the chaos? He’s certainly recruiting an exciting ensemble cast to do so.
Rampage is set to stomp into theaters on April 20th, 2018 and will likely fire up production before the year’s end.