With the ‘Pirates of the Caribbean‘ franchise already making Disney a kajillion dollars, the studio has been eager to turn another theme park ride into a movie with a number of projects in the works, however, none have had names of his caliber attached yet.
Deadline reports that Disney is lining up Tom Hanks and Tim Allen to star in the live action “Jungle Cruise.” The “Toy Story” duo are basically a guaranteed money printing machine at this point and no surprise that with that Pixar franchise “ending” (at least on the feature film front; there are already two shorts planned for next year), the studio wants to keep that relationship and on-screen pairing going.
“Shrek” and “Jonas” writer Robert S.H. Schulman is on board to write the screenplay; again, not a shocker, and basically confirms that it’s aiming squarely at kids and families. No word yet on a plot, but it will likely involve a cruise that takes place in a jungle and wacky things then happen with Tim and Tom quipping at each other. But hey, they do that schtick well so we won’t be too cranky about this unless it turns into a bloated 3D adventure thingy (which it probably will). No director yet, but with Hanks involved, it will likely be a very recognizable name.
As we mentioned, this isn’t the only Disney attraction-based movie in development: Jon Favreau was in talks in the fall to direct “Magic Kingdom” and the studio also has a project in development called “Tiki,” centered around the Enchanted Tiki Room. Say what you will about Disney, but when they go big….they go big.