Dwayne Johnson’s Jungle Cruise Coming To Home Video Sooner Than Expected
The new Dwayne Johnson movie is coming to movie ASAP.
This article is more than 2 years old
Jungle Cruise was released in movie theaters and on Disney+ with the additional cost of Premier Access on July 30, 2021. Only one month later, on August 31, 2021, audiences will be able to purchase the Emily Blunt and Dwayne Johnson movie on all of the major digital platforms. Blu-Ray and DVD purchases will be available on November 16, 2021, just in time for holiday gifting. The 4k physical copies will be coming with more than your average special features. It will also contain the ability to watch the movie in Expedition Mode. With the movie set to this mode, trivia, easter eggs, and facts about the film will pop up as the movie plays.
The Jungle Cruise purchase will also contain more expected special features, like eleven different deleted scenes, fun bloopers, and featurettes about the film. There will be a featurette where director Jaume Collet-Serra and the cast and crew discuss some of the wider issues of the movie, including incorporating elements from the ride made famous in Disney Parks. A featurette where Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt walk the audience through the set. A dive into the set pieces for creating the Amazon seen in Jungle Cruise. A short film where audiences can meet “skippers” who’ve worked on the ride at the parks and talk to them about their experiences. And then, of course, a blooper reel with all the best funny moments from the set.
This surprisingly early release for Jungle Cruise is similar to what Disney did for Black Widow, another movie where they released the film simultaneously in movie theaters and on Disney+ with Premier Access. Marvel’s Black Widow saw a huge spike in piracy. This was partially blamed on the streaming release making it so that high-quality copies were available easy to download online. Between the threat of piracy and fewer people visiting movie theaters, it makes sense that a sooner home video release for these Disney movies is an important part of their strategy. This may discourage piracy and get people to purchase the Dwayne Johnson movie, instead of simply waiting for the movie to be a part of the regular streaming catalog on Disney+. The bonus features are a nice draw as well.
Jungle Cruise has seemingly done well at the box office, though that’s a little hard to judge these days. A major blockbuster film may have expected larger numbers pre-pandemic. That being said, Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle earned $36 million during its opening weekend. That was a Dwayne Johnson blockbuster pre-pandemic. The movie went on to earn $962 million at the worldwide box office.
However, these days movies are seeing a huge drop after the initial opening in the movie theater. Black Widow saw a box office plummet after its first couple of days in the movie theaters. F9 saw something similar. There is virtually no chance that Jungle Cruise will be nearing that billion-dollar mark at the box office. Jumping into making what they can on home video sales makes sense in this market, and is a nice bonus for audiences who are still waiting to check this Dwayne Johnson movie out.
