In 2008 it was Brendan Fraser leading the charge in New Line’s Journey to the Center of the Earth, four years later Dwayne Johnson took over in Journey 2: The Mysterious Island and while domestic returns only showed a slight uptick, internationally the sequel made $90 million more than the original. However, that didn’t seem like enough for New Line to continue the franchise… until now.
The Hollywood Reporter brings word The Conjuring screenwriters Chad and Carey Hayes have been hired to write Journey 3 and 4 with Johnson expected to return for both along with Josh Hutcherson whose starred in both installments so far.
There is no specific word on which direction the plot will go, but the THR article says the screenwriting brothers will take “the project in a different direction”, whatever that could mean. The fact the Hayes brothers worked with Johnson on New Line’s upcoming disaster pic San Andreas almost surely played a role in them getting the gig after Brian and Mark Gunn were reportedly hired back in 2012 to write Journey 3, but clearly nothing much came of that.
