Everybody loves good adventure movies, and Journey to the Center of the Earth and its sequel Journey 2: The Mysterious Island still rank highly as some of the most memorable. In particular, the sequel which starred Dwayne Johnson became a box office hit, and fans were eager to see the franchise grow with Journey 3: From the Earth to the Moon.
Unfortunately, after years in development, the film just never got off its feet. However, there is still a lot of interesting facts about it, so we have put together a list of ten things that you probably didn't know about the canceled Journey 3: From the Earth to The Moon.
10 It Was Going To Be A Jules Verne Space Adventure
As with the other films in the franchise, it was also going to be based on the works of Jules Verne with his 1865 work From the Earth to the Moon: A Direct Route in 97 Hours, 20 Minutes being the basis for the film.
From the Earth to the Moon mostly focuses on the characters trying to get to the celestial body; therefore, the film may have also incorporated some of the storylines from the book's sequel, Around the Moon. Although, the book could also have been used for the proposed Journey 4.
9 The Writers Of "The Conjuring" Were Attached
When one thinks of the Journey franchise, the last thing that comes to mind is a supernatural horror. Therefore, it was a bit surprising when brothers Chad and Carey W. Hayes were hired to pen a script for the film.
Best known for their work on horror films like the House of Wax and the highly successful The Conjuring, the brothers replaced writers Brian and Mark Gunn who were initially hired after their success on Journey 2. It is still unclear what exactly their version was going to look like, but it definitely would have been an interesting shift from the previous two installments.
8 Brad Peyton Was Going To Direct
Action director Brad Peyton was set to return. Having worked as the director on Journey 2: The Mysterious Island, it was clear why he was the best choice.
After Journey 2, he went on to direct major hits like San Andreas and Rampage, which also both starred Dwayne Johnson. Unfortunately, this meant that his schedule became full really quickly, and Journey 3 was consistently pushed back.
7 Journey 3 And 4 Were Going To Be Filmed Back To Back
At the time of its initial development, there was so much excitement and energy around the franchise that Brad Peyton and the Hayes were gearing up for the two movies to be filmed one after the other.
Importantly, this meant that Journey 3 was likely going to end on a major cliffhanger in order to get the fourth installment going. However, as the actors and crew were so busy on other projects, it became clear that filming back to back became a little difficult.
6 It Was Going To Be A Lot Bigger Than Journey 2
The end of Journey 2: The Mysterious Island ended on a cliffhanger that made it clear that the franchise had a lot of room to grow, and Peyton had lots of big ideas on how to do that.
In the initial stages of development, Peyton said that Journey 2 only scratched the surface of what they could do and that the third installment would be a lot bigger and would be aimed and growing the mythology of the two previous films.
5 Josh Hutcherson Was Likely To Return
Josh Hutcherson was the only main character to appear in both the Journey films as Sean Anderson. Therefore, it made sense for him to return for the third installment.
However, it was around the same time that he had a leading role in The Hunger Games series as Peeta Mellark, which meant that Hutcherson was kept plenty busy, and it made it difficult for the production of Journey 3 to continue.
4 It Was Going To Be A Little More Mature
The Journey franchise was often seen as being more geared towards a younger generation. However, Peyton wanted to change that. Speaking to We Got This Covered, he said that he wanted to age-up the movies and make them more accessible to other audiences as he had done with San Andreas.
Although it isn't clear what this would have looked like, it also made a lot of sense, given that Hutcherson would have been a lot older in the new film.
3 The Rock Was A Major Part Of The Film
In Journey 2: The Mysterious Island, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson replaced Brendan Fraser as the lead and was credited as being one of the main reasons for the success of the sequel. Therefore, it only made sense that he needed to be included in the third film.
However, Journey 2 was also a major stepping stone for Johnson and, within that time, became one of Hollywood's most sought after actors appearing in roles like Fast Five, G.I Joe: Retaliation, and San Andreas. Therefore, Johnson simply just didn't have enough time to focus on the Journey franchise. Luckily, fans did get to see him in a similar role in the action-adventure Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle.
2 Dwayne Johnson Confirmed It Was Canned On Twitter
In 2018 Dwayne Johnson confirmed that Journey 3 was no longer on the cards. In a really sweet fan exchange, he said that he had no plans to make the film as it became just too difficult to crack creatively.
Although Dwayne Johnson is no longer attached, it is not impossible that someone else could take up the mantel instead. But as it has been eight years since the release of Journey 2: The Mysterious Island, the chances of that happening are pretty slim.
1 There Is An Online Petition For The Movie To Continue
In our day and age, fans are better than ever at getting the attention of their favorite actors and filmmakers. Therefore, it is no surprise that there is a petition for the third installment of the Journey franchise on change.org.
The petition specifically calls on Dwayne Johnson and Brad Peyton to get the film back on track.
https://ift.tt/3dfjNW2
May 04, 2020 at 07:30AM
