Filming has now begun on Rampage, the upcoming video game movie adaptation headlined by Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson. Drawing inspiration from the gaming franchise of the same name (which originated as an arcade game title in 1986), Rampage reunites Johnson with his Journey 2: The Mysterious Island and San Andreas director, Brad Peyton; drawing from a script cowritten by San Andreas screenwriter Carlton Cuse and Ryan Condon (who co-wrote 2014's Hercules, also starring Johnson).

Johnson's Rampage character is a primatologist and the head of an anti-poaching unit operating in Rwanda, who is called upon to save the day when gigantic, mutated versions of a crocodile, a gorilla and a wolf are set loose on the unsuspecting world. Malin Akerman (Billions) plays the villainous head of the company responsible for creating said giant monsters in Rampage, with Oscar-nominee Naomie Harris (Moonlight), Joe Manganiello (Magic Mike XXL) and Jeffrey Dean Morgan (The Walking Dead) among those rounding out the main cast of the film.

Johnson's Seven Bucks Productions co-founder and producing partner, Hiram Garcia has confirmed that Rampage is now officially in production, via his verified Twitter account (see below). Garcia name-drops both Akerman and Jake Lacy (Girls) as cast members in the movie, while The Rock has previously confirmed all of the aforementioned cast members (among others) for the video game-based project.

Production on Rampage is starting just a day after Johnson and his fellow core Fast & Furious cast members helped to catapult the latest addition to the franchise, The Fate of the Furious to the biggest global opening frame ever. Johnson is currently filming season 3 of his HBO TV series Ballers and will be promoting the raunchy big screen reboot of the Baywatch property (which he co-headlines with Zac Efron) next month, before he starts production on the action/thriller Skyscraper later this summer. To say that 'The Rock' isn't resting on his laurels following the mega-success of Fate of the Furious, would be more than a small understatement.

For similar reasons, it's easier to envision a Dwayne Johnson-backed Rampage becoming the rare video game film adaptation that is a success, both critically and commercially. The Rampage gaming property arguably lends itself to a cinematic iteration, as its "humans vs. giant monsters" premise is a more immediate fit for the blockbuster format than other video games that have denser and more complicated pre-packaged mythologies to adapt (see 2016's Warcraft and Assassin's Creed). Perhaps the bigger question is, will Rampage perform well enough at the box office to give The Rock yet another hit franchise to add to his rapidly-growing body of film work?

NEXT: Will Dwayne Johnson Star in a Fast & Furious Spinoff?

Source: Hiram Garcia