After abandoning his post and violating countless laws in a reckless pursuit to save his daughter's life, Dwayne Johnson's heroic-ish leading man Raymond Gaines is poised to return for more antics in a San Andreas sequel. THR reports that Johnson and New Line are developing a follow up film for the natural disaster actioner, which grossd more than $473 million internationally last year.
New Line has hired Blacklist scribes Neil Widener and Gavin James to write the script for the San Andreas sequel. The duo takes over for Carlton Cuse, Andre Fabrizio and Jeremy Passmore, who penned the script to the first film. Otherwise, much of the original team is expected to return for the second installment.
San Andreas starred Johnson's search and rescue helicopter pilot who reunited with his ex-wife (Carla Gugino) to rescue their daughter (Alexandra Daddario) as a series of earthquakes devastated the Pacific coast.
Gugino and Daddario, who is currently working with Johnson on the R-Rated Baywatch remake, are expected to return for the sequel, as is Paul Giamatti, who played the seismologist who saw the devastation coming and got to deliver the eternal line: "The Earth will literally crack and you will feel it on the East Coast."
Brad Peyton, who directed the first film and recently reteamed with Johnson on an adaptation of the video game Rampage, is also set to return. As is producer Beau Flynn, who is currently collaborating with Johnson on both Rampage and Baywatch. Peyton and Johnson will also produce this time around.
I was sort of kidding about all that dereliction of duty stuff because it's best not to think too hard about movies like San Andreas, but seriously, there's no way Gaines still has a job. It's also a stretch to see what the point of the emotional narrative would be, since -- spoilers -- San Andreas ended with Gaines proving himself to his wife and the family happily reunited. It's also just a strange choice for a sequel because the whole destruction porn aspect felt like a relic from 10 years ago, but given its respectable Box Office numbers, I can't say I'm too surprised.
Plot details for the are unknown at this point, but the report suggests the sequel intens to go global by focusing on the so-called "Ring of Fire" -- the fault lines and volcanoes that circle the Pacific Ocean and are believed to be responsible for more than 90% of the world's earthquakes.