What next for Dwayne Johnson since quitting Fast & Furious? Jungle Cruise and Netflix’s Red Notice drop soon – in 2022 The Rock plays DC superhero Black Adam, and Superman’s dog …
- After Vin Diesel said The Rock needed ‘tough love’, Johnson said he was done with the franchise after F9, so what next for the world’s highest-paid actor?
- He stars in DC League of Super-Pets with Keanu Reeves and Kevin Hart, and with Wonder Woman’s Gal Gadot and Deadpool’s Ryan Reynolds in Netflix’s Red Notice
This week sees the release of Jungle Cruise, a movie-inspired-by-a-ride that Disney hopes will match some of the success of Pirates of the Caribbean franchise. Here’s more on that and what else the former WWE superstar has been up to so far this manic year.
Jungle Cruise is Johnson’s latest summer blockbuster
Hitting cinemas this week, as well as Disney+ for those with Premier Access, Jungle Cruise pairs Emily Blunt (as Dr Lily Houghton) with Dwayne Johnson as skipper Frank Wolff. Based on the 1955 theme park ride of the same name (itself inspired by the Humphrey Bogart and Katharine Hepburn movie classic, The African Queen), Dr Houghton undertakes this perilous journey down the Amazon on a quest to find an ancient tree with unparalleled healing abilities.
Having spent over US$200 million on the film, Disney is hoping for sizeable returns despite the damage done to cinema revenue thanks to more than a year of Covid-19. Johnson, for his part, is optimistic. “What we’re seeing now [at cinemas] starting with A Quiet Place 2 and Cruella, and then Fast & Furious and certainly with Black Widow … it’s invigorating.”
Young Rock revisited the star’s youth
Earlier this year fans were treated to a new TV series that looked to explore how Johnson grew up and became the global star that he is today. Young Rock was a candid look at three pivotal episodes, all based on actual experiences, in Johnson’s adolescence, from back in the days when people still called him Dewey. The stories roamed from The Rock’s childhood in Honolulu, Hawaii, to his teenage years in Pennsylvania, to college years spent in Miami.
Described as “an endearing peek behind the curtain of both Dwayne Johnson’s childhood and the wild world of wrestling”, the series was well-received and has been renewed for a second season.
Johnson declares he’s done with The Fast & Furious franchise
Supposedly tension has long existed between Johnson and the franchise’s original star, Vin Diesel, who recently claimed he had to dish out some “tough love” to get The Rock to perform to an appropriate standard for Fast & Furious 5.