Jaume Collet-Serra Ditches ‘Suicide Squad 2’ to Direct Dwayne Johnson’s ‘Jungle Cruise’

Just last month it seemed as though Jaume Collet-Serra would be joining Warner Bros.’ efforts to course-correct the DCEU following reports that the director behind Liam Neeson’s leather-clad action-dad flicks was in talks to helm Suicide Squad 2. But it looks like the sequel to David Ayer’s underwhelming DC villain ensemble is back on the market, as Collet-Serra has jumped ship in favor of taking a Jungle Cruise with Dwayne Johnson.

According to Deadline, the director of last year’s The Shallows (aka Blake Lively vs. Shark) has signed on to direct Johnson in Jungle Cruise, based on the classic Disney theme park attraction of the same name. Per the report, Collet-Serra was more interested in directing a potential franchise-starter akin to Pirates of the Caribbean than helming the sequel to another filmmaker’s comic book blockbuster — and can you blame him?

Think of it this way: You’ve directed a string of successful genre and action flicks that have drawn the attention of major studios eager to get you behind the wheel of something much bigger (and much more expensive). Your options are working with a charismatic superstar on an action-adventure movie based on a theme park ride, or you can be a glorified housekeeper hired by an affluent family to clean up the basement because their black sheep son threw a Juggalo-themed rager down there and it is unseemly. Hardly a Sophie’s Choice situation.

Concerned parties (such as myself), take heart: Collet-Serra is still very much attached to helm Waco, the upcoming true-life drama based on the heated 1993 standoff between the FBI and David Koresh’s Branch-Davidian compound in Texas. Scripted by Mark Boal (Zero Dark Thirty) and Marc Haimes (Kubo and the Two Strings), Waco has substantial prestige potential, and could be Collet-Serra’s best (and most interesting) film yet.

Meanwhile, Warner Bros. is still in need of someone — anyone, please — to go down to the basement and clear out all the empty bottles of Zima and Faygo and half-eaten bags of Funyuns to make their house look respectable again.