Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson firmly cemented his status as one of the most bankable actors currently active in 2016, but he certainly isn't resting on his laurels this year. If anything, The Rock is keeping as busy (if not busier) as ever in 2017, between reprising his Fast & Furious series role as Agent Hobbs in this April's The Fate of the Furious; starring in a revival/soft reboot of the illustrated children's book-turned family friendly adventure property, Jumanji; and leading the charge on a big screen reboot of the 1990s TV series brand, Baywatch.
Baywatch stars The Rock in the role that David Hasselhoff (who is making an appearance in the Baywatch movie) originated on the small screen; Mitch Buchanan, the no-nonsense head lifeguard who oversees a popular beach in California. The Baywatch film reboot reimagines the original TV series in a fashion that brings to mind how 21 Jump Street remolds its own nostalgic TV inspiration - as a raunchy, tongue in cheek, buddy action/comedy, here pairing Johnson with Zac Efron as handsome-but-thick Olympian athlete turned lifeguard, Matt Brody. The footage in the newly-released Super Bowl preview for the film, only further supports the notion that Baywatch is getting "the Jump Street treatment" here.
Paramount Pictures is using the Super Bowl LI game to promote three of the studio's major tentpole releases this year. Joining the Baywatch Super Bowl promo (see the video above) is a new preview for The Fate of the Furious (with a trailer that also prominently features The Rock) as well as an extended TV trailer for Transformers: The Last Knight that was actually released online earlier than originally planned, due to a hacking breach.
While the Baywatch Super Bowl trailer contains some footage not featured in any of the previous trailers for the film, it otherwise paints the same picture of the movie - that of an R-Rated, self-referential take on the show that inspired it. Director Seth Gordon's (Horrible Bosses) approach here seems called for, seeing as the original Baywatch TV series - much like the original 21 Jump Street TV show - is the sort of cheesy soap opera/drama that's easier to send-up that treat reverentially, in the year 2017.
With The Rock leading a cast that seems perfectly game to play up the inherent silliness of the Baywatch franchise - including, in addition to Efron, Johnson's San Andreas costar Alexandra Daddario and Quantico's Priyanka Chopra as the film's villain - there is fair reason to believe that Baywatch the movie will make for some good summer (check that, late May) fun, when it reaches theaters. Whether or not Baywatch will perform well enough at the box office to give The Rock yet another lucrative franchise to add to his growing collection, that's another matter.
NEXT: The Fate of the Furious Super Bowl Trailer
Source: Dwayne Johnson
