Film News Wrap Up April 22: The Rock in 'Jumanji' and Pamela Anderson in 'Baywatch'

Today in film news, it had been previously reported that The Rock might star in the Jumanji remake and now the man himself has confirmed it. Dwayne Johnson took to Instagram to announce the project, adding that it is scheduled to shoot this fall. Kevin Hart has not announced his involvement, but the comedian was supposedly in talks to star alongside Johnson, his partner from the upcoming Central Intelligence. 

It's OFFICIAL: Love this script! Big movie news that me and my canine gal Shang are excited to share;) To produce, create and deliver original properties to fans like HBO's #ballers to this summer's #CentralIntelligence is one of the best parts of my job. But to take great properties that are beloved worldwide like #BAYWATCH and #RAMPAGE and have the opportunity reimagine their stories in dope new ways to a whole new generation is truly an honor. It's official. We'll produce and deliver to a whole new generation a title that I love and is one of my all time favs: There's games you play for fun... then there's games that change your life. JUMANJI Working on edging up an already very good script with my @sevenbucksprod team. Up next is meeting with our producer Matt Tolmach and director Jake Kasdan. Shooting starts this fall. Promise to deliver something cool and special.. and not screw the whole damn thing up;). As always I'll keep you posted. Casting this should be fun! #JUMANJI #JungleLife #JustPressStart #SONYPictures

A post shared by therock (@therock) on

That wasn't the only piece of news to come from The Rock's Instagram feed today. We also found out that Pamela Anderson has joined the cast of the upcoming Baywatch reboot, which also stars Johnson. It doesn't sound like Anderson will have a significant role in the movie, as she was unsure if she would appear in it as recently as February of this year. More than likely, she will simply have a brief cameo. Baywatch hits theaters in May 2017.

After the first film performed very well at the box office, Paramount has ordered a sequel to Daddy's Home, Deadline reports. Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg will both return for the second installment and director Sean Anders is back on board as well. Though the critical reaction was generally negative, Daddy's Home grossed an impressive $240 million when it opened this past Christmas.

20th Century Fox is working on a new drama about Proposition 8, California's same-sex marriage ban passed in 2008 and ruled unconstitutional in 2010. The Case Against 8 will be adapted from the HBO documentary of the same name and will be directed by Marielle Heller (Diary of a Teenage Girl), according to The Hollywood Reporter. Heller also recently signed on to direct Kolma, an upcoming fantasy romance starring Daisy Ridley and produced by J.J. Abrams.

The Dark Tower cast just keeps expanding and today the production has added a Joss Whedon alum. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Fran Kranz has signed on to play Pimli, right hand man of the Man in Black, in Sony's The Dark Tower adaptation. Kranz is known for playing Marty in The Cabin in the Woods, as well as Topher in Dollhouse. The Dark Tower also stars Matthew McConaughey and Jackie Earle Haley. It hits theaters in February.

Joaquin Phoenix is in talks to play Jesus Christ in the upcoming film Mary Magdalene, according to Deadline. He would be starring opposite Rooney Mara, who was previously cast as the titular character. The film comes from the producers of The King's Speech and from director Garth Davis (Top of the Lake). It's expected to be released sometime in 2017.

The director of Snowpiercer and The Host is working on a brand new monster movie. According to Entertainment Weekly, Bong Joon-Ho has begun production on Okja, which follows a young girl who tries to stop a powerful organization from stealing away her pet, some sort of giant animal she calls Okja. The film will star Steven Yeun, Lily Collins, Devon Bostick, Byun Heebong, Shirley Henderson, Daniel Henshall, Yoon Je Moon and Choi Wooshik. It will be released on Netflix in 2017.

The next Alien movie from Neill Blomkamp is still happening...probably. The film was initially planned for a 2017 release, but it was pushed back so that Ridley Scott could make Prometheus 2 (now called Alien: Covenant) first. Though Blomkamp's movie no longer has a release date, Sigourney Weaver says fans should not give up hope. "I’d be really surprised if we didn't do it, because it’s such a great script, and we love working together," she told The Playlist. "So, it’s just going to take a little bit longer to get out to you, but it’ll be worth the wait."

20th Century Fox has released the second trailer for Independence Day: Resurgence. It doesn't reveal too much about the plot that we didn't know already, but we do get a better glimpse of Jessie Usher, who's playing the son of Col. Hiller (Will Smith) from the original. It's been established that Smith's character died off screen between the two movies, and David Levinson appears to reference that here by referring to Hiller in the past tense. Independence Day: Resurgence stars Jeff Goldblum, Liam Hemsworth, William Fichtner, Maika Monroe, Vivica A. Fox and Bill Pullman. It hits theaters on June 24.

{"code":"internal_server_error","message":"

There has been a critical error on your website.<\/p>

Learn more about debugging in WordPress.<\/a><\/p>","data":{"status":500},"additional_errors":[]}