A full, official plot synopsis has yet to be revealed for director Brad Peyton's upcoming cinematic adaptation of the '80s arcade game RAMPAGE, but last week it looked like the website Splash Report had unearthed the details of the secretive story.
Marking the start of production on the film, RAMPAGE's star Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson took to his Instagram account to let his fans know a bit about the character he'll be playing – and in doing so confirmed some of what Splash Report had revealed.
Here's what they had heard about the story crafted by writers Ryan Engle, Carlton Cuse, Ryan Condal, and Adam Sztykiel:
The first privately owned space station is destroyed by a mysterious experiment done onboard. Three canisters from the crash land on Earth. One lands in the gorilla enclosure at the San Diego Zoo, the other in the plains of Wyoming and the last one in the Florida Everglades. The Griffin Technologies Group, headed by two siblings, tries to destroy any evidence of wrongdoing before the government finds out. It’s too late because the canisters have infected a gorilla named George, a wolf in Wyoming and an alligator. They start evolving and growing exponentially. To cover their tracks, the Griffin idiots decide to unleash a beacon that will make all three large animals head toward one destination: their head office located in the Willis Tower in Chicago.
The site had also heard that Johnson's character is "an ex-Marine who's now a primatologist that raised George at the San Diego Zoo. He taught the ape sign language, and they share a special bond." Johnson confirmed the special bond with George, but didn't mention the Marine / primatologist part. According to the actor,
I head up an anti poaching unit out of Rwanda. My best friend is a rare albino gorilla named George. Very bad people infect George, an alligator and a wolf with a serum. All three animals grow at an unprecedented rate. Their size, speed, agility and violent aggression is off the charts. They go on a deadly rampage and want to destroy the world. George not happy. Me not happy. When animals like you, they lick you. When they don't like you, they kill you. I will hunt down the bad people who did this to my best friend. And when I find them, I will not lick them."
I would not want to be one of the people who has gotten on Johnson's bad side.
Johnson is joined in the cast by Naomie Harris as "a geneticist with a moral streak", Malin Akerman as "a calculating head of a tech company", P.J. Byrne as a scientist, Marley Shelton as a scientist / astronaut, Joe Manganiello as the leader of a private military group, and Jeffrey Dean Morgan as a government agent named Russell, who "rolls with serious swagger and attitude". According to Splash Report, Jake Lacy is playing Akerman's brother. Also in the cast are Breanne Hill, Jack Quaid, and Matt Gerald.
RAMPAGE is now filming for an April 20, 2018 release.
Peyton and Johnson previously worked together on SAN ANDREAS and JOURNEY 2: THE MYSTERIOUS ISLAND.