Jungle Cruise to Debut in Theaters & on Disney+ With Premier Access

May 13, 2021

Dwayne Johnson took to Instagram to confirm that Walt Disney Studios’ long-delayed action-adventure Jungle Cruise will now officially be having a simultaneous debut in theaters and on Disney+ with Premier Access on Friday, July 30. In the same Instagram post, Johnson also shared a new teaser at the end which you can check below, providing new action-packed footage that also features a new look at Emily Blunt.

This marks the fourth time this year that Disney decided to change the distribution strategy for their high-profile films. Before Jungle Cruise, Disney’s newest live-action pic Cruella and Marvel Studios’ Black Widow will be the first ones to use the studio’s same-day theatrical and Disney+ release, following the success of Raya and the Last Dragon earlier this year. The three films were originally scheduled for a 2020 theatrical release, but were pushed back to this year due to the ongoing pandemic.

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Disney’s Jungle Cruise is an adventure-filled, Amazon-jungle expedition starring Dwayne Johnson as the charismatic riverboat captain, Frank Wolff, and Emily Blunt as a determined explorer on a research mission, Dr. Lily Houghton. It also stars Edgar Ramirez and Jack Whitehall, with Jesse Plemons, and Paul Giamatti.

Lily travels from London, England to the Amazon jungle and enlists Frank’s questionable services to guide her downriver on La Quila—his ramshackle-but-charming boat. Lily is determined to uncover an ancient tree with unparalleled healing abilities—possessing the power to change the future of medicine. Thrust on this epic quest together, the unlikely duo encounters innumerable dangers and supernatural forces, all lurking in the deceptive beauty of the lush rainforest. But as the secrets of the lost tree unfold, the stakes reach even higher for Lily and Frank and their fate—and mankind’s—hangs in the balance.

Jungle Cruise is directed by Jaume Collet-Serra (Non-Stop, The Shallows), who is currently in production with Johnson for Warner Bros.’ long-in-development film Black Adam. Based on a story by Glenn Ficarra & John Requa and Michael Green, the screenplay was written by Ficarra and Requa. Johnson produced alongside his Seven Bucks Productions partners Dany Garcia and Hiram Garcia, as well as frequent collaborator Beau Flynn (San Andreas, Baywatch) of Flynn Picture Co. John Davis and John Fox of Davis Entertainment will also produce.

Jungle Cruise will join the ranks of films Disney has created based on their theme park attractions, including The Country Bears, The Haunted Mansion, Mission to Mars, Tomorrowland, and the most popular, Pirates of the Caribbean. Disney plans to develop the film as a possible franchise in the same vein as Pirates of the Caribbean.