Could The 'Jungle Cruise' Movie Characters Be Added To The Ride At Disney Parks? [Set Visit]

Disney has never seen a marketing opportunity it didn't take advantage of, so when the company decided to make a feature film out of one of its most popular theme park attractions, of course it incorporated Johnny Depp's Captain Jack Sparrow character into the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. Will the same thing happen with Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt's characters in the forthcoming Jungle Cruise movie? Here's what we learned while visiting the set.

When /Film's Hoai-Tran Bui visited the movie's set and the topic turned to whether or not Johnson's character would be incorporated into the Disney park rides, producer Beau Flynn's answer was incredibly vague and unclear. "Not only do you expect the Frank animatronic...Because [producer] Hiram [Garcia] was mentioning, we've been working very closely with the Imagineers," he said. "I think it's something they are extremely passionate about and it is hand and hat in terms of, to the future generation of the Jungle Cruise ride."

I honestly don't really know what to make of that. He seems to kind of suggest that Johnson's skipper character, Frank, might get an animatronic at some point. (Then again, "hand and hat" is not a popular phrase, so I guess I can't be completely sure.)

To make things even more confusing, Flynn continued: "There is something very exciting that's happening, and being that it hasn't been updated since really 1955, so they all feel that because it's Walt [Disney]'s treasured ride in his imagination, they feel like now is the time to take it to a new level. So it's very cool to be part of that."

That part of the quote makes it seem like the filmmaking team is involved in some way with the recently announced changes to the attraction, but according to a statement from Walt Disney Imagineering Creative Portfolio Executive Chris Beatty earlier this year, the theme parks are "not adding a major storyline or character from that film."

At least Emily Blunt seems to have a sense of humor about the whole situation. When asked if her character might be added to the ride, she joked, "I'm actually going to show up in person. That's going to be my next gig. That's going to be my forever gig...I'm going to be 93 and still be there."

Jungle Cruise sails into theaters and on Disney+ Premier Access on July 30, 2021.