Their big summer tentpole Jungle Cruise got pushed back to July of 2021, but Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt are already looking to work with one another again. The project this time is Ball and Chain, an comic book adaptation that is possibly even more high concept than Jungle Book: Here’s the pitch, according to Deadline:
Edgar and Mallory Bulson have decided to throw in the towel. That was the plan anyway, until a mysterious meteor bathed the battling couple in extraterrestrial energies that gave them super-powers. Will their newfound abilities be enough to make their marriage work?
So, it would seem to be some kind of Hancock/My Super Ex-Girlfriend superhero relationship comedy. Sounds a bit rough, to be honest. No word on if this effects either actor’s larger Superhero projects (Black Adam for Johnson, and Blunt of course has been rumored to be a top candidate for the MCU’s Invisible Woman for years now), but I imagine it doesn’t. The most encouraging part of this is that the script was written by Emily V Gordon, co-writer on The Big Sick with Kumail Nanjiani, and she’s great, so it might just have better jokes than the elevator pitch ‘bickering married couple gets super powers’ suggests.
Reportedly, Netflix is emerging as a likely destination. But that not’s clear yet. Either way, this seems likely to come out shortly after Jungle Cruise, so here’s your Hollywood couple of 2021. Adore them!