Disney hires Jaume Collet-Serra to helm ‘Jungle Cruise’ film with Dwayne Johnson

Non-Stop and The Shallows filmmaker Jaume Collet-Serra has opted not to direct Warner Bros.’ DCEU sequel Suicide Squad 2.

Deadline reports that Collet-Serra has now signed on to direct Jungle Cruise for Disney, an adaptation of the popular theme park ride that Dwayne Johnson has been developing as a star-vehicle since 2015.

In making Jungle Cruise his next project, Collet-Serra now withdraws from the running to helm Suicide Squad 2, leaving Warner Bros. still on the hunt for a filmmaker for the DCEU movie.

Deadline says the director is interested in building the action-adventure franchise from the ground up, in the vein of Indiana Jones, this was more appealing than stepping into an already established franchise, so Collet-Serra settled on Jungle Cruise over Suicide Squad 2.

The Disney film will be set in the 1920s, using The African Queen as inspiration, and the idea is to emulate the success of Pirates of the Caribbean. J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay (Star Trek Beyond) wrote the most recent draft of the script.

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Jungle Cruise is up as one of Johnson’s next projects after he completes the original blockbuster Skyscraper, which is shooting now, and Disney is no doubt happy to firm up a film on Johnson’s incredibly busy development slate.