Dwayne Johnson movies are some of the most popular at the box office. The former professional wrestling star became a Hollywood leading man back in 2002 before his role in Fast Five (2011) catapulted him into action superstardom. In the last two decades, Johnson’s roles have varied from family-friendly giant to action man to DC Comics anti-hero. But, a new report suggests that the once-celebrated actor is being replaced by a female Marvel star in an upcoming revival.
Wrestler-turned-actor Dwayne Johnson found fame as “The Rock” in the Attitude Era of WWF (now WWE) before transitioning into movies beginning with his role as the Scorpion King in The Mummy Returns (2001) and the spin-off movie, The Scorpion King (2002) just a year later.
From there, Johnson began a more frequent career in Hollywood, with his role as Luke Hobbs in Fast Five (2011) being a precursor for the star power Johnson had. He went on to star as Hobbs in more of the Fast & Furious franchise movies, as well as appeared as the demigod Maui in The Walt Disney Company’s Moana (2016) — a role which he will reprise in the polarizing live-action remake — and as Frank Wolff opposite Emily Blunt in Disney’s Jungle Cruise (2021).
Credit: Disney
Johnson’s other commercial hit, Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (2017), spawned a sequel, Jumanji: The Next Level (2019), but the brakes would be put on Johnson’s success after DC Studios’ Black Adam (2022) released last year. Tapped as the saving grace of the DC Extended Universe, Black Adam dramatically failed to land home with audiences when it debuted in November 2022.
Not only was Black Adam a victim of the superhero fatigue era, but Johnson’s reported self-serving behavior has only gone on to doom the lukewarm movie further. After the poor box office performance, Johnson allegedly leaked financial information proving the film had made a profit for Warner Bros. Discovery, and then earlier this year, when Shazam! Fury of the Gods (2023) released, star Zachary Levi seemingly confirmed reports of Johnson’s DC interference when he shared an article detailing his behind-the-scenes antics.
Two years after his Fast & Furious debut and almost a decade before Black Adam flew into theaters, Johnson was the star of another action movie, G.I. Joe: Retaliation (2013). If these reports are to be trusted, then the G.I. franchise may be heading back to the big screen — just without Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.
Launching in 2009 with G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, the action-figure-inspired movie spawned a sequel, Retaliation. Johnson appeared in the 2013 sequel as Marvin F. Hinton/Roadblock, joining Channing Tatum, who reprised his role as Conrad S. Hauser/Duke from The Rise of Cobra.
Credit: Paramount Pictures
Like its predecessor, Retaliation, even with Johnson’s Hollywood prowess, failed to land critically or commercially, and the franchise was seemingly dead in the water. Then in 2021, a spin-off, Snake Eyes (2021), starring Henry Golding, was released. Contending with the aftermath of the pandemic’s industry-wide shutdown, Snake Eyes also failed to cut through the noise and only netted $40 million for distributor Paramount Pictures.
Despite the dismal performance of the franchise so far, in February 2021, a new live-action TV series was announced for Amazon from Erik Oleson, Paramount TV Studios, eOne & Skydance TV. The show was set to focus on G.I. Joe‘s Jaye Burnett, AKA Lady Jaye, played by Adrianne Palicki.
Credit: Paramount Pictures
Palicki is best known for her character of Barbara “Bobbi” Morse/Mockingbird in Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D, where she starred from 2014 to 2016.
However, that TV series is now not moving forward. Producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura spoke to Collider about whether the G.I. Joe franchise will ever return to the big or small screen.
“We actually developed a pilot with Amazon. This was before Paramount+, just as Paramount+ was coming in. It didn’t pan out,” di Bonaventura said. “We are in a lot of conversations about what to do with it as a film, and so I would have to say, most likely, you’re going to see that come to fruition. How soon is always impossible to say. For a long time, there were no active conversations. There’s a lot going on right now.”
The fact that the TV show — Lady Jaye’s TV show — is now not happening but could be transformed into a movie would signal that Palicki’s co-star in Retaliation, Dwayne Johnson, would be replaced with her own action heroine as the central character in the $700+ million franchise.
Credit: ABC
As for “The Rock”, he will next star in the Christmas movie Red One (2023) with Chris Evans. The former pro wrestler is also currently navigating a legal battle after another former wrestler launched a lawsuit against not only Johnson but a whole plethora of others, including the FBI and Home Depot. Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) star Trenesha Biggers, AKA Rhaka Khan, alleges that the list of defendants conspired to kidnap her and her children. The court case now moves forward after Biggers paid the fees herself.
