Emily Blunt Joins The Rock In Disney’s ‘Jungle Cruise’

Disney and Emily Blunt are continuing what they hope to be a fruitful partnership, as the star of Mary Poppins Returns is also hopping aboard Jungle Cruise.

Blunt will costar alongside Dwayne Johnson in the movie based on one of Disneyland’s earliest rides, continuing one of Disney’s weirdest cinematic traditions.

The movie is sure to take advantage of Johnson’s recent box office momentum, following in the wake of Fate of the Furious and Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle. Next on the Rock’s docket is Rampage, based on the video game of the same name.

According to the report from Variety, Disney execs are said to be happy with the footage of Blunt in the upcoming Mary Poppins sequel and are eager to continue working with her. She also starred in the musical Into The Woods from Disney.

Jungle Cruise is set to be directed by Jaume Collet-Serra, who recently directed the shark thriller The Shadows. Academy Award-nominated screenwriter Michael Green is handling the latest rewrite of the script, originally handled by J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay.

The company repeatedly dominates box offices with its franchises from Pixar, Walt Disney Animation Studios, Marvel Studios, and Lucasfilm. And then there are the live-action remakes of their animated classics. But coming up with films based on their popular theme park attractions has been a consistent staple in recent years.

Pirates of the Caribbean is among Disney’s most popular and successful name-brand franchises, and they’ve also attempted films such as The Haunted Mansion and Tomorrowland. The Country Bears was also based on a Disney attraction, and the Tower of Terror inspired a made-for-TV movie starring Kirsten Dunst.

Jungle Cruise might seem like a strange source for an adaptation, but given that there is no storyline attached to the attraction the filmmakers basically have carte blanche to do as they please. The report from Variety states that they’re going for film similar to the classic The African Queen starring Humphrey Bogart and Katherine Hepburn, and they’re hoping Johnson and Blunt’s chemistry is similar to the Hollywood icon’s was.

Jungle Cruise does not yet have a release date.