Dwayne Johnson may already be on to his next project, but he's still hanging out with his Jungle Cruise co-stars. Recently, the hardest working man in showbusiness shared an image of himself on the set of Hobbs and Shaw but he's not hanging out with Idris Elba or Jason Statham. Instead, he's chilling with Emily Blunt and Jack Whitehall. Check it out.
While the Rock is a serious action hero, he's rarely the guy in the photo who's being the most serious, and yet, here we are. Rocky looks stoic, but on his right is Emily Blunt making a funny face, and on his left is Jack Whitehall wearing a weightlifting belt incorrectly. They certainly make for an interesting trio.
Exactly why both of them decided to drop by the set of Hobbs and Shaw together isn't clear. Perhaps this is just part of The Rock's marketing deal with Disney. In addition to the three actors being in Jungle Cruise together, both Blunt and Whitehall are also in Disney movies this year. Jack Whitehall plays a soldier in the recently released The Nutcracker and the Four Realms and Emily Blunt plays the title character in next month's Mary Poppins Returns.
Dwayne Johnson makes sure to mention these things in his Instagram post, so while it could be that these three actually became close friends on the set of their movie, it could also just part of The Rock's massive marketing power. The only reason the picture was likely taken on the set of Hobbs and Shaw is simply because The Rock never stops working and that's the only place where you can catch him. Who cares, it's a fun picture.
It's such a fun picture that it makes it a little sad that we're not going to get a chance to see these three on screen nearly as soon as we thought. Originally, Disney's Jungle Cruise was set for release in just under a year, October of 2019. However, it was recently pushed back to July of 2020.
This is probably good news for the movie itself. The prime summer release spot means Disney thinks the film will do well there, which means the movie could be quite good. The expectations for a summer movie are still high and Disney wouldn't put Jungle Cruise in July if it didn't think the film could compete. However, if it's that good, it's that much more annoying that we have to wait.
Comparisons have been made between Jungle Cruise and the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, at least in what Disney is trying to accomplish. Both are action-adventure films based on Disneyland attractions. The first Pirates movie was a pretty massive hit, both commercially and critically, the sequels were only able to achieve success in the latter category. It would seem likely Disney is hoping to do both things well once again. If it is able to be a success on the level of The Curse of the Black Pearl we can be nearly certain this will be the beginning of an all-new franchise.
