Jungle Cruise (film)

In September 2004, it was announced that Jungle Cruise would be developed for Mandeville Films, with a script by Josh Goldstein & John Norville. The film was loosely inspired by the theme park attraction of the same name. The film was announced to take place within the twentieth century.[4] In February 2011, it was announced that Tom Hanks and Tim Allen, who had previously worked together in the Toy Story franchise, would star in the long-gestating film, with a script to be written by Roger S. H. Schulman.[5]

In August 2015, it was announced that Walt Disney Pictures was redeveloping its film adaptation based on Jungle Cruises, to star Dwayne Johnson.[6] The script was originally written by John Norville and Josh Goldstein, and would be written by John Requa and Glenn Ficarra, and the film produced by John Davis and John Fox, with the intention to harken back to its period roots.[6] In April 2017, Johnson expressed his interest in having Patty Jenkins helm the project,[7] but in July 2017, Jaume Collet-Serra was announced as the director of the film.[8]

In January 2018, Emily Blunt joined the cast.[9] The same month, Michael Green was reported to have rewritten the script, previously worked on by Patrick McKay and J.D. Payne.[10] In March 2018, Jack Whitehall joined the cast to portray the brother of Blunt's character.[11][12] In April 2018, Édgar Ramírez and Jesse Plemons joined the cast to portray villains with the former being "a man with a conquistador background".[13][14] In May 2018, Paul Giamatti joined the cast to portray a “crusty harbormaster.”[15] In June 2018, Quim Gutiérrez joined the cast to portray one of the villains.[16]

In December 2018, it was reported that Whitehall's character would be gay and would have a coming out scene in the film with Johnson.[3] This would be the second incidence of a gay character in a live-action Disney film, the first being Le Fou, portrayed by Josh Gad, in the 2017 adaptation of Beauty and the Beast. There was some backlash over the report, with some online expressing anger over a straight man being cast as a "camp" gay character.[17]

Principal photography began on May 14, 2018, in Hawaii and Atlanta.[18] Filming wrapped after several months on September 14.[19]

Joel Negron serves as editor on the film, with DNEG, Industrial Light & Magic, Rodeo FX, Rising Sun Pictures and Weta Digital providing the visual effects.[20][21]