journey-3-4-brad peyton-slice

It’s been said (and sung) that Dwayne Johnson is “franchise viagra,” and that moniker has stuck for a reason. The actor has revitalized a number of big properties, expanding their reach to larger global audiences with the addition of his charisma and talent. The Fast & Furious and G.I. Joe franchise are two notable examples, but Johnson also provided a boost to the Journey to the Center of the Earth series in the sequel Journey 2: The Mysterious Island.

Based on the success of the follow-up, Warner Bros. began work on not one but two further sequels, Journey 3 and Journey 4, with Johnson involved. We haven’t heard much about the films as of late, but Steve recently caught up with director Brad Peyton while he was promoting the Johnson-starring San Andreas at WonderCon:

“We are working on a script for 3 and 4. There’s no official status but it’s one of those things we chip away at and I’m gonna do a meeting on it next week, so we’re still figuring it out.”

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Image via New Line Cinema

Peyton confirmed that Johnson is absolutely involved in both films, and revealed they had ideas for the follow-ups very early on in the process:

“When we finished Journey 2 and were like, ‘I feel pretty good about this,’ and the movie went on to do really well, you instantly go, ‘Well this is what I would do. I would do this and this,’ based on the Jules Verne works that we have, so we had concepts right away.”

With regards to developing both Journey 3 and Journey 4 at once, the filmmaker went on to say that he’s been in meetings recently where studios have suggested moving forward with multiple films at a time, and said he actually prefers putting his head down for two sequels at once:

“If I’m gonna do three of ‘em or two of ‘em, let’s just do it, because it’s hard to get there and then it’s hard to sustain. As soon as you get that release down you’re like, ‘Okay I need a vacation.’”

Check out Steve’s full interview with Peyton below, in which he also discusses the possibility of helming a DC Comics movie at Warner Bros.

 

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Image via New Line Cinema