The 22-Year-Old Movie That Launched The Rock’s Acting Career Comes to Netflix Next Month

Netflix subscribers will soon be able to stream Dwayne Johnson’s first leading role in a movie. The Mummy spinoff The Scorpion King is set to arrive on the streaming service next month.

Beginning Nov. 1, The Scorpion King will be available to stream on Netflix. Released in 2002, the action-adventure movie serves as both a prequel and spinoff of The Mummy Returns, taking place more than 5000 years before the 2001 sequel and revealing the origins of Johnson’s Mathayus and his rise to power as the titular Scorpion King. Although the movie received mixed reviews from critics, it was a modest box office success, grossing $180.6 million worldwide against a $60 million budget.

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The success of The Scorpion King led to Universal continuing the series, albeit as a straight-to-home video franchise and without Johnson back in the title role. Instead, Michael Copon played Mathayus in 2008’s The Scorpion King 2: Rise of a Warrior, with Victor Webster taking over for the next two sequels, The Scorpion King 3: Battle for Redemption (2012) and The Scorpion King 4: Quest for Power (2015).

The fifth and final installment in the spinoff franchise, The Scorpion King: Book of Souls, was released in 2018 with Zach McGowan as Mathayus. Besides Johnson, other prominent actors to appear in The Scorpion King franchise include Star Wars alum Temuera Morrison, Guardians of the Galaxy‘s Dave Bautista, and Blade Runner star Rutger Hauer.

The Scorpion King
was my very first role ever on the silver screen and I’m honored and excited to reimagine and deliver this cool mythology to a whole new generation.

Dwayne Johnson Is Rebooting The Scorpion King

In November 2020, Johnson announced plans to reboot The Scorpion King, with Jonathan Herman (Straight Outta Compton) tapped to pen the screenplay. The project will be a joint venture between Seven Bucks Productions and Universal Pictures. Although plot details remain under wraps, the movie will reportedly take place in the modern day and involve a contemporary adaptation of Mathayus of Akkad. Johnson is not expected to return as the title character and will instead serve as a producer alongside Seven Bucks’ Dany Garcia and Hiram Garcia.

“The Scorpion King was my very first role ever on the silver screen and I’m honored and excited to reimagine and deliver this cool mythology to a whole new generation,” Johnson said in a statement at the time. However, since the initial announcement, no updates have been given on the reboot and it is unclear whether the project remains in development at Universal.

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What’s Up Next for Dwayne Johnson?

After a rough couple of years for the actor, which included not changing the hierarchy of the DC Universe with Black Adam, Johnson has several promising projects coming down the pipeline. First up, is the Christmas action-adventure movie, Red One, which hits theaters next month from Amazon MGM Studios. In the feature, Johnson plays the head of Santa Claus’ North Pole security who is tasked with risking Saint Nicholas after he is kidnapped. Chris Evans, Lucy Liu, and J. K. Simmons also star.

That same month, Disney will release Moana 2 in theaters worldwide. The actor reprises his voice role from the original 2016 animated movie as Maui, joining a returning Auliʻi Cravalho as Moana. Johnson is also reprising his role as Maui for the live-action remake of Moana that is scheduled to hit theaters in 2026.

The only other major project that Johnson has already begun work on is The Smashing Machine, an upcoming biopic about former wrestler and mixed martial artist Mark Kerr. Johnson is playing Kerr, with his Jungle Cruise co-star Emily Blunt as Kerr’s then-wife, Dawn Staples. Directed by Benny Safdie, The Smashing Machine will be released by A24 in 2025.

The Scorpion King arrives on Netflix on Nov. 1.

Source: Netflix

The Scorpion King

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