What Dwayne Johnson's Jungle Cruise Movie Is Going To Be About

Dwayne Johnson in Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle

Fresh off his stint as Dr. Smolder Bravestone in Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson is preparing to venture back into vegetation-filled terrain for Disney's Jungle Cruise, based off the ride of the same name. Johnson has been attached to the Jungle Cruise movie's lead for years, but within the last few months, the supporting cast has slowly been assembling. With today's latest casting addition though, we have our most detailed Jungle Cruise plot synopsis yet, and it will involve the main characters searching for a tree that possesses healing powers.

THR dropped the news that Edgar Ramirez, who was most recently seen playing Gianni Versace in The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story, has been cast in Jungle Cruise as a "man with a conquistador background" who will serve as one of the movie's villains. However, it's unclear if Ramirez's character will serve as Jungle Cruise's primary antagonist or if he'll be a supporting baddie, because in addition to wild animals, the protagonists will also have to contend with a competing German expedition looking for this tree. Ramirez's other credits include Carlos, Zero Dark Thirty, the Point Break remake and Bright.

While none of Jungle Cruise's main characters have been officially named yet, Dwayne Johnson's character, a boat captain, is rumored to be named Frank Francisco. He'll be teaming up with Emily Blunt's character, who is supposedly named Lily Houghton and is a scientist joining Johnson's character on the expedition to find this healing tree. Jack Whitehall has been cast as the brother of Blunt's character, and while it was originally reported that her brother's death is what inspires her to undertake this mission, it now appears that he will be joining her and Johnson's character on this exciting adventure. Jungle Cruise will be set in the Amazon jungle during the 1920s. The Shallows director Jaume Collet-Serra is helming the movie and Logan's Michael Green penned the most recent draft of the script.

Disney has had great success with taking rides from its theme parks and adapting them into movies, from Pirates of the Caribbean to The Haunted Mansion. If all goes well, Jungle Cruise could be another winner in this category of the Mouse House's film offerings, providing a timeless-feeling cinematic adventure packed with obstacles and threats lurking around every corner. With four actors now part of Jungle Cruise's cast, I expect the main lineup will be filled out within the coming weeks.

Jungle Cruise doesn't have an assigned release date yet, but production is expected to begin next month. Keep checking back with CinemaBlend for updates on how the movie is developing, and if you're interested in planning your trips to the theater later this year browse through our 2018 release schedule.

Adam Holmes
Senior Content Producer

Connoisseur of Marvel, DC, Star Wars, John Wick, MonsterVerse and Doctor Who lore, Adam is a Senior Content Producer at CinemaBlend. He started working for the site back in late 2014 writing exclusively comic book movie and TV-related articles, and along with branching out into other genres, he also made the jump to editing. Along with his writing and editing duties, as well as interviewing creative talent from time to time, he also oversees the assignment of movie-related features. He graduated from the University of Oregon with a degree in Journalism, and he’s been sourced numerous times on Wikipedia. He's aware he looks like Harry Potter and Clark Kent.