Jaume Collet-Serra has been set by Disney to direct Dwayne Johnson in Jungle Cruise. This means that Collet-Serra will withdraw from Suicide Squad 2, the Warner Bros sequel for which he was top choice.
After directing a bunch of hit movies that included last summer’s sleeper The Shallows, Collet-Serra has been poised to take that step to star filmmaker, and numerous studios chased his next slot. He decided that the opportunity to originate a new Indiana Jones-like action-adventure franchise in lockstep with one of the most globally bankable film stars — like Gore Verbinski did with Johnny Depp in The Pirates of the Caribbean — was a better opportunity than continuing a storyline originated by another director. Production will begin late next spring.
Plot details are being kept under wraps, but like Pirates, Jungle Cruise is based on the classic theme park attraction that takes guests on a guided tour through the rivers around the world. Star Trek 4‘s J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay wrote the most recent script draft. John Davis and John Fox will produce via Davis Entertainment, Beau Flynn will produce via his FlynnPictureCo. banner, and Johnson, Dany Garcia and Hiram Garcia are producing through Seven Bucks Productions.