Dwayne Johnson Is Teaming With an A-List Director on His Most Daring, Genre-Bending Movie Yet

File this under: I did not have Dwayne Johnson and J.J. Abrams cooking up a movie about movie theaters on my 2025 bingo card, but here we are — and the pitch is pretty wild.

So what exactly are Johnson and Abrams making?

Johnson says he is teaming with Abrams on a big, meta concept that lives inside the world of movie theaters — yes, literal cinemas, not Broadway. The hook is that films and genres basically come alive, filtered through Abrams' brain. It sounds high-concept in the fun way, and very much like the sort of sandbox Abrams likes to play in.

'It is this big movie about theaters. It is very, very cool. Basically, imagine if movies came to life, in different genres, through the vision of J.J. Abrams.'

The idea comes from Zak Penn — the writer behind Ready Player One and Free Guy — which tracks with the whole sandbox-of-pop-culture vibe. Johnson posted about the project after a December 2024 meeting with Abrams, but there is no title or date yet.

Where this fits in Johnson's very busy slate

• Jumanji 3: Johnson is currently filming what is expected to be the final entry in the trilogy with Kevin Hart, Karen Gillan, and Jack Black. It is dated for December 11, 2026.
• Lizard Music: Reuniting with Benny Safdie for an adaptation of Daniel Pinkwater's novel. Johnson plays Chicken Man, who, along with an older chicken companion, pulls a boy into a hidden society. Johnson and Safdie last teamed on 2025's The Smashing Machine, which has earned Johnson some of the best reviews of his career.
• Hawaiian mob movie with Martin Scorsese: Johnson is set to play the so-called 'Godfather of Hawaii' alongside Emily Blunt and Leonardo DiCaprio. File that under: unexpected and intriguing.

What Abrams is up to right now

Abrams recently finished shooting a new fantasy movie at Warner Bros. with Glen Powell, Jenna Ortega, Emma Mackey, and Samuel L. Jackson. The working title floating around is 'Ghostwriter,' there is no release date yet, and it would be Abrams' first feature as a director since 2019's 'The Rise of Skywalker.'

Bottom line: Johnson and Abrams are aiming for a genre-hopping, movies-come-alive romp built for the big screen. Given the team — and Zak Penn's high-concept fingerprints on the idea — this could be a flex for theatrical spectacle. Now we wait for a title, a date, and some character details to bring the premise into focus.