The Rock Reveals Cool Connection Between Jumanji And The Jurassic Park Franchise

Dr. Xander "Smolder" Bravestone (Dwayne Johnson) stares forward in Jumanji

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is many things. He’s an actor, producer, athlete and businessman, but he’s also a movie buff. The actor has starred in some of the biggest films over the past several years, like the Jumanji franchise. Yet he’s also shared instances in which he’s enjoyed films on his own time, particularly with his family. Given his love of movies, it’s easy to imagine that he’s aware of or has learned a few sweet behind-the-scenes nuggets. And would indeed appear to be the case, as he recently revealed a cool connection between his Jumanji films and the Jurassic Park franchise.

The Rock was recently named People Magazine’s No. 1 reason to love America, a massive honor for one of the hardest working people in show business. With this recognition also came a photo shoot, which took place in his native state of Hawaii. And it was in a recent Instagram post, in which he detailed the experience, that Dwayne Johnson shared the link between the worlds of Jurassic Park and Jumanji:

Standing in valleys of our sacred Hawaiian mountains of Kualoa. Spielberg’s JURASSIC PARK as well our JUMANJI movies were filmed at this beautiful location on the island.

So it would seem that both Jumanji and Jurassic Park had the honor of filming in the gorgeous-looking location, and its scenic view really makes a difference. While the massive franchises are full of action and thrills, the mountain range only adds to their visual splendor and further immerses fans into the universes the movies are striving to create. And if you think you’ve seen these mountains outside of both series, then you’d be right. The Kualoa mountains have also been featured in films like The Karate Kid Part II, 50 First Dates, and George of the Jungle.

In the same social media post, Dwayne Johnson would go on to describe his love of dinosaurs. He also detailed how he much approach a situation if faced with one of the massive dinos:

I’m obsessed with dinosaurs (true story) so I’d imagine this is exactly what my facial expression and body language would communicate if I lived 65 million years ago and stood tall in front of a Tyrannosaurus Rex.

Just about any of us would love to look as imposing as Dwayne Johnson does, especially if we had to approach a towering dinosaur. But he also revealed that, like any of us, he’d likely run away from the situation, so that he won’t get eaten, of course. Check out Johnson’s dinosaur-facing pose in his post down below:

A photo posted by on

Although receiving such a high honor from People has to be crazy for The Rock, standing in a spot in his home state (where he also filmed one of his own movies) has to be surreal. But now, it also has me wondering if production will return to the beautiful spot for the reported Jumanji 4. Only time will tell but, considering his love for Hawaii, it’s a safe bet that whether it be for work or pleasure, Johnson will more than likely return to the mountain range at some point in the future.

Erik Swann
Senior Content Producer

Erik Swann is a Senior Content Producer at CinemaBlend. He began working with the publication in 2020 when he was hired as Weekend Editor. Today, he continues to write, edit and handle social media responsibilities over the weekend. On weekdays, he also writes TV and movie-related news and helps out with editing and social media as needed. He graduated from the University of Maryland, where he received a degree in Broadcast Journalism. After shifting into multi-platform journalism, he started working as a freelance writer and editor before joining CB. Covers superheroes, sci-fi, comedy, and almost anything else in film and TV. He eats more pizza than the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.