Disney's Jungle Cruise Gets Pushed Way Back

Even The Rock is not immune to the shifting sands of 2020's film industry. In the wake of [...]

By Russ Burlingame

Even The Rock is not immune to the shifting sands of 2020's film industry. In the wake of production, distribution, and theatrical shutdowns amid the novel coronavirus pandemic, Walt Disney Studios shifted basically its entire blockbuster slate today, revealing new release dates for more than a dozen movies over the next couple of years. Among them? Jungle Cruise, the upcoming adaptation of the Disney Parks ride starring Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt, was shifted more than a year back -- from a planned July 24 release date to one on July 30, 2021. The move comes as Disney shifted most of their movies back several months, and removed two movies from its slate altogether.

The first movie released from the production slate was the family adventure Artemis Fowl, which will now get a straight-to-streaming release on Disney+. The second is a still-untitled Marvel movie, which likely means that the studio will reschedule it when things calm down. No sense in having an unknown project taking up a valuable spot on the schedule when there's the possibility that some of the movies will need to be rescheduled again.

The project has been promoted largely on the strength of Johnson's and Blunt's personalities, with the marketing campaign centering around the two and playing up what seems to be an African Queen-style friendly rivalry between the two in the film. In Februrary, back when Disney parks were still open, one of the Jungle Cruise boats took on water and had to be removed from the ride, leading to the incident going viral and the movie finding itself at the center of social media jokes.

The property also has a tabletop game announced. Ravensburger will release the Disney Jungle Cruise Adventure Game later this year. The new 2-4 person game will put players in charge of their own riverboat, trying to navigate a dangerous river while picking up passengers and cargo. Not only will players try to keep their cargo safe, they'll also need to pick up clues to determine which of four families has been tapped to lead the Jungle Exploration Company, led by Alberta Falls. Ravensburger has released several successful games based on Disney properties in recent years, including the Villainous franchise of games.

Johnson and Blunt star in Jungle Cruise alongside Jesse Plemons, Jack Whitehall, Paul Giamatti, and Edgar Ramirez. The film is directed by Jaume Collett-Serra. Producers on the film include Seven Bucks Productions' Dany Garcia (Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle) and Hiram Garcia (Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw), along with John Davis and John Fox (Game Night), Douglas C. Merrifield (The Shallows), and Scott Sheldon (Baywatch).

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