It looks like Jungle Cruise co-stars Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt got along splendidly, because the two are set to star alongside one another again in Ball and Chain. However, instead of playing bickering romantic foils in an adaptation of a Disneyland ride, they will be playing a married couple on the edge of divorce who get superpowers in an adaptation of a comic series.
Emily V. Gordon (The Big Sick) will write the script based on the ’90s comic of the same name by Scott Lobdell. The Hollywood Reporter describes the film as “a superhero story meets Mr. and Mrs. Smith, where a couple struggling in their marriage are equipped with superpowers.” The comic followed “married couple Edgar and Mallory Bulson, who are on the verge of divorce when a freak meteor shower grants them superpowers. However, their powers only work when they work together.”
Despite Ball and Chain only running for four issues, Hollywood has tried adapting this comic twice before for television. The most recent attempt was in 2010 at Syfy. I haven’t read this series, but I’m betting that its the premise and tongue-in-cheek title that alone makes this a property that Hollywood is desperate to adapt.
Ball and Chain is currently being shopped to multiple studios, but THR states Netflix will likely pick it up. However, no deal has been made yet.
I definitely think that this premise would work best a television series (hence the previous attempts), but you can’t really go wrong with a motion picture if you have Johnson and Blunt as your leads. However, I would have loved for Tom Cruise and Blunt to be starring as the married couple given their characters’ relationship in Edge of Tomorrow (Live. Die. Repeat.).
I haven’t seen The Big Sick yet, but Gordon earned an Oscar nomination for the film with husband Kumail Nanjiani, so I think she has what it takes to script a compelling superhero film with a romantic-comedy twist.
While we wait for Ball and Chain to come together, we can see if Johnson and Blunt truly do have killer chemistry when Jungle Cruise hits theaters on July 30, 2021.
Screenagers, have any of you read Ball and Chain? Do you think it will make a good film or should they have tried to make it work on television? Tell us in the comments!
