It’s been a rocky (no pun intended) couple of years for Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. First, Black Adam bombed, derailing his hopes to take charge of the DCEU alongside Seven Bucks Productions. He later returned to WWE but faced the wrath of fans when he tried to take Cody Rhodes’ place in the WrestleMania main event.
The trades have also questioned whether Johnson is still a box office draw, with at least one making some wild claims about his alleged habit of peeing in water bottles on set.
Now, though, WWE’s “Final Boss” has taken to social media to tease a mysterious project he’s working on alongside Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker director J.J. Abrams and The Incredible Hulk writer Zak Penn.
“Years in the making – we finally broke bread, we drank, we laughed, got a lil’ drunk (maybe that was just me) we talked life stuff, love stuff, dude stuff and took our time chopping up our passion for movies and storytelling,” Johnson wrote. “Then we all raised a glass and toasted to…yup, this one is gonna be fun.”
He concluded by saying the project comes “From the mind of Zak Penn,” an intriguing flex seeing as he’s known best for writing movies like Elektra and X-Men: The Last Stand (Joss Whedon once claimed that Penn’s script for The Avengers was so bad, he had to throw it out and start from scratch, a claim his predecessor on the movie has denied).
Penn’s other recent writing credits include Ready Player One, Free Guyand Beacon 23.
While nothing has been confirmed, there’s speculation online that this might be a superhero project of some sort. While it’s unlikely to be a Marvel or DC movie, this mystery title could be Abrams, Penn, and Johnson’s chance to make up for past failures.
Abrams’ plans for a Justice League Dark slate of projects fell by the wayside at Warner Bros., Penn was pushed out of the MCU by Whedon, and Johnson’s Black Adam dreams came to nought.
Even if this doesn’t give the pro wrestler and actor an opportunity to suit up again, we’d bet on it being a high-concept action blockbuster given the talent involved. It’s been five years since Abrams stepped into the director’s chair so this may mark his comeback after a recent focus on producing.
We’ll see what happens, but it surely won’t be long before we find out what this trio is cooking up.
