It is official: Disney is working on a sequel to the fantasy adventure film Jungle Cruise. According to Variety, Emily Blunt and Dwayne Johnson will reprise their performances as Dr. Lily Houghton and Captain Frank Wolff. Furthermore, director Jaume Collet-Serra will most likely return alongside with Michael Green (Blade Runner 2049, Murder on the Orient Express), one of its screenwriters. Before helming Jungle Cruise, Collet-Serra directed a series of action flicks starring Liam Neeson, including Non-Stop, Run All Night, The Commuter, and Unknown.
Jungle Cruise is based on Disney’s theme park ride that was, in turn, partially inspired by John Huston’s 1951 adventure film The African Queen. Initially, the film was to come out on October 11, 2019. However, the studio decided to postpone the release until July 24, 2020. By the mid-2020, Covid-19 was claiming thousands of lives in the US alone. Disney decided to push the release of Jungle Cruise for a year, hoping that pandemic will slow down by 2021. Well, it didn’t – at least not enough to make a $200 million blockbuster earn its money back. By late August, the film earned $100.1 million in the US and another $86.9 million overseas. And while that would usually be disastrous for such an expensive production, it’s kinda impressive considering we’re in the middle of the worldwide pandemic. It certainly didn’t hurt that Disney released Jungle Cruise both in cinemas and on Disney Plus.
