Dwayne Johnson: ‘The Rock’ Is Going To Make The First Decent Video Game Movie…Maybe

The most popular actor in Hollywood today is Dwayne Johnson. The Rock conquered the world of wrestling, and he now seems to have his sights set on doing the same with video games and comic movies. At least, that seems to be the indication if you look at what his upcoming projects are according to IMDb.

Dwayne Johnson is certainly no stranger to over-the-top action sequences. He made a very good living at the height of professional wrestling doing this very thing. This has continued into his movie career. Furious 7 was as over-the-top as cinema gets, and Fast and Furious 8 promises to kick it up even further.

However, the one area that has always plagued Hollywood is the stigma that surrounds video game franchises. Forbes chronicled the plight of video game movies in 2016. The conclusion they reached is at best, the movies were just okay, and if one were to agree with the guys from the Mad About Movies podcast, some were awful. Assassin’s Creed recently ranked in their Worst Films of 2016.

While comic book movies have performed well at the box office, critically they have been one-sided. Marvel has continuously wowed audiences and critics. Their number one rival DC can’t say the same despite having two of the most iconic characters in the world, Superman and Batman.

That is all about to change with Dwayne Johnson. The Rock is going to do this with two properties that are obscure, to say the least. He is set to play in the movie Rampage based on an old 80’s arcade game. He also has the role of the villain Black Adam in Shazam, a movie based on what some would feel to be a lesser Superman-type superhero from DC Comics.

In Rampage, Johnson will be tasked as being the only person standing in the way of larger-than-life monsters, and the city they are out to destroy. At the moment, the movie is in pre-production. It is slated to be released in 2018. Naomie Harris (Skyfall) recently joined the cast. Her role has only mentioned as that of a geneticist.

It should be noted that this isn’t the first video game movie The Rock has been the star. In 2005, Johnson played in an adaptation of the first-person shooter Doom. It was not received well by critics or fans scoring a 19 percent and 34 percent respectively. Here’s hoping Rampage is met with a better response.

While Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice tries to keep from winning a 2017 Razzie for worst movie of the year, DC is looking to their “extended’ cast of characters to breathe new life into movies. This is only compounded by rumors of Wonder Woman being a “disjointed mess.” They look at trying to fix this with Shazam.

Johnson’s name has been attached to the Shazam project from almost the beginning. At times, it was thought he could play the title role, but he instead took the role of the main villain Black Adam. The Rock discussed what made Black Adam so appealing in an interview with Digital Spy.

“What made me choose Black Adam? I just felt Black Adam was inherently more interesting to me because I felt there were more layers to Black Adam, starting out as a slave and then ultimately becoming the anti-hero who we enjoy today.”

DC is confident in Johnson. On Monday, TechnoBuffalo shared that he will indeed get a Black Adam stand-alone origin story.

Are you at all excited about the upcoming movies from Dwayne Johnson? The Rock has a busy schedule beyond just these films. He is also slated to appear in a reboot of Jumanji, the previously mentioned Fast and Furious 8, and Baywatch to name a few.

[Feature Image by Universal Studios]