J.J. Abrams and the Rock Tease a Mystery Team Up Project

J.J. Abrams hasn’t directed a movie since Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker and while we still don’t know what his next one will be, it may star one of the biggest actors on the planet. On social media Wednesday, none other than Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson shared that he and Abrams, along with writer Zak Penn and one of Johnson’s partners, Hiram Garcia, were working together on a project. The only tease was the tagline “…tonight, it comes to life…”

Here’s the post.

Years in the making – we finally broke bread, we drank, we laughed, got a lil’ drunk (maybe that was just me 🙋🏽‍♂️) we talked life stuff, love stuff, dude stuff and took our time chopping up our passion for movies and storytelling. Then we all raised a glass and toasted to….

yup,… pic.twitter.com/0E2E1MCRwS

— Dwayne Johnson (@TheRock) October 16, 2024

Penn is best known for his early work in the superhero genre, having written scripts or stories for films such as X2, The Incredible Hulk, Thor, The Avengers, and X-Men: The Last Stand. His big break came in the early 1990s when he helped come up with the story for the hugely underrated and ahead-of-its-time Last Action Hero starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. Most recently, he co-wrote Ready Player One for Steven Spielberg and Free Guy for Shawn Levy.

He’s a big-time, big-scope genre guy, which fits in nicely with not just Abrams—who has worked on Lost, Star Wars, Star Trek, Mission Impossible, and more—but also Johnson, who is always looking for that next big thing. (Case in point, his hopeful holiday franchise starter Red One, out in December.)

So let’s poke around here a bit. Clearly the idea of Abrams and Johnson teaming up is intriguing, whether you like them or not. They’re people who bring big ideas and name recognition to the table. What’s not clear about the post is if everyone is taking their usual role. The assumption is Johnson stars, Abrams directs, and Penn writes, but that’s not a gimmie. Maybe Penn directs (which he has in the past) and Abrams produces (which he’s done continually since Rise of Skywalker). We aren’t sure but it’s important to put all the possibilities out there.

Then there’s that tagline: “…tonight, it comes to life…” To come to life, you presumably have to be dead or non-existent. Is this some kind of monster? Demon? A disease? Unclear. But again, with Penn in the mix, we’d imagine we’re looking at some kind of genre IP with franchise possibilities and four-quadrant appeal. Or we’re idiots and it’s a crime drama for Apple TV+. Who is to say?

Penn did chime in with a tiny update tweeting “More on this later.” Are we thinking New York Comic Con? Straight announcement in a trade like Deadline? We’ll keep an eye out and let you know when we know more.

What are your thoughts on Abrams and Johnson teaming up? Clearly right now isn’t a high point for either of their careers, so is this the right team up at the right time?

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