Ahoy, squirts! Quint here. At D23, Dwayne Johnson showed up to charm the hell out of the crowd while pimping upcoming animated flick Moana. While he was on stage he talked about how one of his life goals when he embarked on his career was to be part of the Disney family, specifically to provide a voice for one of their animated films.
He's done live action stuff for Diseny and can now check off "voice a Disney cartoon character" from his Bucket List, but it seems like he's not done with the Mouse House checklist quite yet.
Looks like he'll be stepping up to captain The Jungle Cruise, one of Disneyland's oldest and most cherished rides. Hardcore Disneyana folks hold that attraction in highest of esteem. It was one of rides that opened with the park in 1955 and it has remained largely untouched.
All the attractions that Uncle Walt had a hand in developing are beloved and while I will never accept that there's a better attraction in that park than The Haunted Mansion there is something to sitting on the Jungle Cruise, hearing the cast member Captain's tired jokes and seeing the audio-animatronics in action. You can still feel the soul Walt when you do something like that.
After Pirates of the Caribbean hit it big Disney's been trying to launch more ride-themed franchises. Guillermo del Toro is still working on Haunted Mansion (godspeed, Gordo) and Jungle Cruise has been in the works for the better part of a decade. This iteration could be the right combination of elements, though.
Previous versions would have modernized the events of the ride, but it looks like Johnson will be leading a period adventure film. This could be his Indiana Jones if they play their cards right.
Focus scribes John Requa and Glenn Ficarra will be taking a crack at the script, but according to THR won't be directing.
As long as they can find a way to keep the cannibal stuff in away that doesn't come off as horribly racist, they can do just about whatever they want. Oh, and there has to be evil hippos. Fuck those guys.
-Eric Vespe
”Quint”
quint@aintitcool.com
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