Written By: Nick Poulimenakos

Suicide Squad 2 will have to search for a new top directing choice as Jaume Collet-Serra has withdrew his name from the running. In an exclusive report by Deadline, Collet-Serra has been announced as the director for Disney’s Jungle Cruise which has Dwayne Johnson in the lead role.

Jungle Cruise plot details are currently being kept tightly under wraps but, like Pirates of the Caribbean, the film will be based off of the Disney theme park ride that takes guests on a tour through the rivers around the world. The film is being produced by John Davis and John Fox with a screenplay by J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay.

Collet-Serra has been on a hot streak ever since debuting on the Hollywood movie scene. His first film, Orphan, garnered acclaim from critics. He followed that up with a string of Liam Neeson action films Unknown, Non-Stop, Run All Night and recently, he premiered the surprise horror hit, The Shallows, which starred Blake Lively. Collet-Serra had just finished filming a fourth Liam Neeson-led film The Commuter and is also attached to the Waco-siege film, written by Zero Dark Thirty’s Mark Boal.

As with any movie based upon a simple concept, I am cautiously optimistic about Jungle Cruise. On one hand, Disney struck gold with the Pirates franchise, but the series also garnered fatigue fairly quickly. With a director like Collet-Serra and the star power of The Rock, the film has all the makings to be a success. Let’s just hope the story is as good as The Rock proclaims it to be…

Jungle Cruise swings into theatres on July 13, 2018.