With typical flair, star Dwayne Johnson has announced a new release date for Disney’s live-action Jungle Cruise, starring himself and Emily Blunt. Originally scheduled for October 11, 2019, the film will now come out in the more competitive summer slot of July 24, 2020. Check out the Jungle Cruise release date announcement video below!
The move takes the film out of a crowded fall date that already features the animated The Addams Family, Zombieland Too, The Goldfinch and Are You Afraid of the Dark? The July 2020 date is currently less competitive (that will change), with only an untitled Sony Pictures Animation film and the highly unlikely Green Lantern Corps, which doesn’t even have a director or stars attached yet. There is also an Untitled Marvel Studios film from Disney opening one week later on July 31. This will also give the Jungle Cruise production nearly two years to complete post-production and effects work, having just completed filming in September.
IT’S OFFICIAL – JULY 24th, 2020.
Ladies and gentlemen and children of all ages.
My partner in crime, Emily Blunt and I, lovingly invite you to join us for THE ADVENTURE OF A LIFETIME.
All aboard…@DisneyStudios JUNGLE CRUISE
pic.twitter.com/DNTnqSb3QD— Dwayne Johnson (@TheRock) October 19, 2018
The new film stars Dwayne Johnson (Emily Blunt (Mary Poppins Returns), Edgar Ramirez (The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story), Jesse Plemons (Game Night), Paul Giamatti (San Andreas) and Jack Whitehall (The Bad Education Movie).
RELATED: New Behind-the-Scenes Photo for Disney’s Jungle Cruise!
In Jungle Cruise, Johnson plays a boat captain who takes his sister (Blunt) and her brother (Whitehall) on a mission to find a tree believed to possess healing powers. Wild animals and a competing expedition figure into the proceedings. Ramirez is said to be one of the movie’s villains, a character with a conquistador background who is leading a competing German expedition alongside the baddie played by Plemons (Game Night).
Jaume Collet-Serra (Non-Stop, The Shallows) directed the film. Jungle Cruise‘s script by J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay (Star Trek Beyond) was rewritten by Michael Green (Logan, Blade Runner 2049). Johnson will produce alongside his Seven Bucks Productions partners Dany Garcia and Hiram Garcia, as well as frequent collaborator Beau Flynn (San Andreas, Baywatch) of Flynn Picture Co. John Davis and John Fox of Davis Entertainment will also produce.
Jungle Cruise will join the ranks of films Disney has created based on their theme park attractions, including The Country Bears, The Haunted Mansion, Mission to Mars, Tomorrowland, and the most popular, Pirates of the Caribbean. Disney plans to develop the film as a possible franchise in the same vein as Pirates of the Caribbean. The film completed production in September and is now in post.
