Box Office Mojo has an interview with Walt Disney Pictures Chairman Dick Cook with some new tidbits about the Jungle Cruise Movie.
From the November 15, 2007 interview:
Dick Cook: There will be a family involved. The skipper will play a very important role. He'll be more of an Indiana Jones kind of guy, with a little Jack Sparrow in him, who's going to be able to take this family on an adventure that they never dreamed they were going to be on when they first got on board. In true Disney fashion, it will definitely have the adventure and the intensity - but also the heart and the fun. We hope we have a good outline of where we want to go and what we want to do with it in the next year.
Box Office Mojo: Do you have a script?
Dick Cook: Not yet. It's being worked on. David Hoberman, whom we have asked to produce it, has been hard at work. He knows that it's a top priority for us - one that we're very, very excited about. It's a real tentpole [picture]. He'll deliver it and when he does, it will be something special.
Box Office Mojo: We know that the Jungle Cruise skipper will not be smoking cigarettes, but will he fire a gun?
Dick Cook: Yes, he'll be able to have a gun but I can promise you he won't be smoking a cigarette.
Also, I'll point out that Cook also explicitly refers to the skipper as being a male. This isn't surprising, really, but it wasn't something we knew for sure before.
Dick Cook.
Box Office Mojo: What is the theme of The Jungle Cruise movie?
Not much there, but some interesting items. While the movie had been descirbed as being a "family film" before, this is the first explicit reference I've seen to the boat's passengers as literally being a family. Note too that while David Holberman is mentioned by name, Al Gough and Miles Millar are not. Neither is there any mention of the "looking for a cure" storyline they were writing. Could the Smallville team be no longer "on board"?
Disney first announced its intentions to make a movie version of The
Jungle Cruise through Mandeville Films in May of 2004. Producing the movie will be David Hoberman and Todd Lieberman.
Hoberman told the Hollywood Reporter that "It's completely inspired by and
relates to the ride and will contain elements of the ride in the story."
Writers Josh Goldstein and John Norville were initially mentioned as
screenwriters.
While few details about have leaked out about the plot, Hoberman has
described the movie as "an adventure film with comedic elements, but its
core is almost a family version of Joseph Conrad's 'Heart of Darkness,'
The film is also said to be set in the 20th Century.
In September of 2006, the creators of TV's Smallville Al Gough and
Miles Millar were announced as the project's new writing team and the
movie was said to be put on the fast-track to a 2007 release. That date
has since been pushed back to 2009.
Millar and Gough.
