Movies
The ‘Rampage’ Adaptation Is In Serious Trouble
While I was beyond disappointed with Godzilla, I had high hopes for New Line Cinema’s Rampage, which would pit mankind against a giant gorilla, wolf and lizard.
Rampage is an adaptation of the classic video game in which the players controls the aforementioned monsters in an attempt to destroy cities across the country.
Now, New Line is looking at another disaster film for inspiration. And it’s a bad one.
Deadline is reporting that Brad Peyton is in talks with the studio to direct Rampage, reteaming him with the key players from the summer hit San Andreas, star Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and producer Beau Flynn.
This is terrible news as, while Johnson is always a scene-stealer who can carry a movie on his massive shoulders, San Andreas was awful. And it’s awful because of both the screenplay and overabundance of CGI. You see, San Andreas looked like a lame cartoon, with giant tidal waves and buildings crashing down. It was poorly done, as the execution left little to the imagination. It’s so unrealistic that I found myself mentally checking out at multiple times during the movie.
Do we really want to see San Andreas with three giant monsters digitally inserted into it? Because that’s exactly what we’re going to get, unless of course the filmmakers learned from their mistakes. Odds are they didn’t as San Andreas‘ gross has shaken past the $460 million global gross mark worldwide to become most certainly the most successful original live action tent pole launch this summer, and also the highest grossing film Warner Bros has released this year (Deadline).
Oh, did I mention that Brad Peyton also directed both Journey 2: The Mysterious Island and Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore? Yeah, that’s who I want directing an adaptation of the beloved videogame. Consider me nervous, even though there have been some truly great surprises in Hollywood (like Bryan Singer’s X-Men film).
The live action adaptation of the 80s Midway Arcade game Rampage has a script by Ryan Engle, who scripted the Liam Neeson-starrer Non-Stop. In the script, three giant monsters–a gorilla, a lizard and a wolf–wreaking havoc on major cities and landmarks across North America, with Johnson standing in their path.
Two-time BAFTA winning filmmaker Joe Wright (Hanna, “Black Mirror“) is set to direct the feature adaptation of post-apocalyptic thriller novel, Juice, Deadline reports today.
Emmy winner Abi Morgan (Shame, “Eric”) will adapt Tim Winton‘s novel for Working Title Films.
In Juice, “A young husband and father is recruited into a top-secret resistance organization, to join the ranks of militia men tasked with targeting the isolated and wealthy culprits responsible for this global catastrophe. When a mission goes wrong, he finds himself on the run, having to fight to the end to survive in this hostile world.”
It’s set in a world ravaged by climate-change disaster.
“I couldn’t be more thrilled that Tim Winton has entrusted us with his extraordinary epic,” Wright told Deadline. “The story is both a thrilling modern family saga and an urgent call to action. I cannot wait for audiences to experience it on the big screen.”
Winton added, “I’m pleased to know a filmmaker of Joe Wright’s calibre has chosen to adapt Juice for the screen. His capacity to portray the turmoil and the turning points of nations and peoples as well as private individuals distinguishes his work as a director and I’m confident that Juice is in good hands.”
Juice was initially published in October 2024 and longlisted for The Climate Fiction Prize 2026.
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