Producer Hiram Garcia explains why there hasn't been a sequel for Dwayne Johnson's film Journey 2: The Mysterious Island. Journey 2, which came to theaters on February 10, 2012, was the sequel to Journey to the Center of the Earth, a loose adaptation of the 1864 Jules Verne science fiction novel of the same name. It followed Sean Anderson (Josh Hutcherson) and his uncle Trevor (Brendan Fraser) realizing that his father was a Vernian, a scientist who believes that the works of Jules Verne are secretly true. He is proven correct when they get trapped underground and go on a grand journey through a vast cavern full of monsters at the center of the earth.
The four-years-later sequel Journey 2 is another loose adaptation of a Verne novel, this time 1875's The Mysterious Island. Replacing the Brendan Fraser role is Sean's stepfather Hank, played by Dwayne Johnson. Along with Vanessa Hudgens and Luis Guzmán, they explore an island populated by creatures and plants that have grown to incredible size. The film was a box office success, raking in $335 million off the back of an $80 million budget, leading the studio to announce that they were making a sequel called Journey from the Earth to the Moon that was eventually scrapped.
While speaking with Collider, Seven Bucks Productions president Hiram Garcia explained why Journey 3 never came to fruition. He explains that studios have wanted sequels to nearly all of Johnson's films, including San Andreas and Rampage, and "if he did the sequel for everything that there was a request for a sequel, he would literally never not be working." Johnson has been "very selective about what he chooses to come back for sequels" because of his tight availability between all his other projects. Read the full quote below:
The truth is people always ask because we're in a very fortunate situation where our partners always want a sequel to everything, right? It's a matter of our slate and the stories we want to tell. We're very calculating in what we want to tell, but, look, if our studio partners had their ways, they want a Journey 2: Mysterious Island sequel, they want a San Andreas sequel, they want a Rampage sequel. It's like all of those movies, the studio was clamoring for a sequel, but we felt collectively, "Look, we told a great version of the story. Now, we want to go to tell another story somewhere else."
But it is a very funny thing where if he did the sequel for everything that there was a request for a sequel, he would literally never not be working. He's just been very selective about what he chooses to come back for sequels. So the Fast Universe was one of those, obviously Jumanji. We have very big plans, obviously, for the DC Universe, if the fans perceive the way we want. We have a lot of stories planned for that. But it is a challenge of balancing, "Okay, what are the sequels we're going to do," because we've been very fortunate that the majority of the projects we've done, there's been a request for sequel, and his availability has always been the thing that made it a challenge.
It's true that Dwayne Johnson is one of the hardest-working actors in Hollywood. Just since 2019, the actor has held major roles in the blockbuster films Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw, Jumanji: The Next Level, Jungle Cruise, and Red Notice, as well as the TV series Ballers and Young Rock. He is also going to have a banner year in 2022, appearing in two distinct DC films: DC League of Super Pets, in which he voices Krypto the Superdog, and Black Adam, in which he plays the titular antihero.
Garcia didn't give insight into what about Journey 2: The Mysterious Island specifically made The Rock pass on it, but it really was most likely just a matter of scheduling. The year after the film came out, Johnson starred in five major motion pictures: Snitch, G.I. Joe: Retaliation, Empire State, Pain & Gain, and Fast & Furious 6. With the way his schedule is already stretched to the limit, it's a shock he's been able to get any new project off the ground.
Source: Collider