Dwayne Johnson and Kevin Hart became good buddies after working together on hit comedy Central Intelligence, where they ended up swiftly re-teaming on the rebooted Jumanji series. Watching the two on the press circuit, their chemistry was undeniable and regularly hilarious, so it was little wonder they continued seeking projects to collaborate on.
However, the loser in all of this was Central Intelligence writer and director Rawson Marshall Thurber, at least in terms of the movie’s franchise prospects. The filmmaker has become part of the Seven Bucks inner circle having reunited with Johnson on lazy Die Hard knockoff Skyscraper and Netflix smash hit Red Notice, but he admitted to The Hollywood Reporter that Jumanji effectively ended any plans for his comic sequel.
“We had an idea, but when Kevin and Dwayne went to do Jumanji, that itch was scratched for most people.”
Central Intelligence wound up landing a 71% Rotten Tomatoes score and earned $217 million at the box office on a $50 million budget, with the effortless sparks generated between the two leads coming in for widespread praise, so on paper it had the potential to spawn at least another installment or two.
As Thurber says, though, the Johnson/Hart double act was back on our screens in no time at all in Jumanji, rendering Central Intelligence 2 obsolete in the process.