Dwayne Johnson gives ‘Black Adam’ update, full ‘Jungle Cruise’ cast detailed
Fans seem to rally around any project Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson stars in and two of his highly anticipated films, Black Adam and Jungle Cruise, got some updates/clarifications. Black Adam is set to drop in theaters on December 22, 2021, so that means that the film will require a year to do post-production work — any delays could push the film back further. Disney has scheduled Jungle Cruise for 2021, but nothing concrete at this point.
Black Adam
Johnson has been extremely active on social media, regularly hosting live chats with his fans from in and around his house (though not training videos), and during his most recent session on Instagram he shared an interesting update about Black Adam. Asked by the website BroBible for an update on the project, Johnson said:
“Black Adam we still plan on shooting probably at the end of summer now – probably pushed maybe into August, maybe September. So we will see, but I can’t wait for that. I have been training so hard for months and months and months and months for Black Adam. And that is a passion project for me, it’s a role that I hold dear in [my heart], and into my DNA. So I can’t wait.”
Johnson is also serving as an executive producer, and Adam Sztykiel (who penned the script for the Johnson video game movie Rampage) is handling the script. Jaume Collet-Serra, who recently collaborated with the star on the upcoming adventure film Jungle Cruise.
Jungle Cruise
Disney had the film set for October, but the summer films (Black Widow, Mulan and others) have slid back into the fall season, so this adventure will land next year.
Cinema Blend listed out the “full” cast:
Johnson is playing a hero named Frank who runs a slightly sketchy river tour operation until he’s hired by a woman (Emily Blunt) to take her down the Amazon for an entirely different purpose.
Blunt is Lily Houghton, a woman on a quest to find a mythical tree in the Amazon that can cure any ailment. In the trailers, it’s revealed that she steals an arrowhead, which is apparently key to finding the tree, showing that she’s quite capable on an adventure.
Lily hires Frank’s boat to take her down river on the search. Emily Blunt worked with Disney most recently on Mary Poppins Returns and will next be seen, we assume in A Quiet Place Part II.
Jack Whitehall has been cast as McGregor Houghton, the brother of Lily, who accompanies her on the voyage.
Early reports have indicated that Whitehall’s character will be gay, which would mark a milestone for a live-action Disney movie. Whitehall is a stand up comedian who has appeared in Disney’s Nutcracker and the Four Realms as well as the Netflix travelogue series Travels with my Father.
Paul Giamatti has joined the Jungle Cruise in an undisclosed role.
His name is still attached to the project in Disney’s press releases, but that’s about all we know. Giamatti has not appeared in the trailers, so fans don’t know how he fits into the story.
Jesse Plemons (Friday Night Lights, Breaking Bad) will have a prominent role in Jungle Cruise. Based on the trailers, Plemons is one of the bad guys, if not the lead villain. He’s the one from whom Emily Blunt steals the arrowhead, and he’s also seen attacking Dwayne Johnson’s boat from a submarine.
Edgar Ramirez, from the remake of Point Break, as well as working, opposite Blunt previously The Girl on the Train. Ramirez will be playing one of the villains in Jungle Cruise as a character who has a conquistador background. In the trailers, some supernatural creatures appear to be dressed like Spanish Conquistadors, so it would seem Ramirez’s part will help bring in the more mystical aspects of the story.
June 2019: ‘Jungle Cruise’ wraps and director Jaume Collet-Serra may direct ‘Black Adam’
