Dwayne Johnson is no doubt a highly regarded actor. The charismatic actor is much loved for his athleticism, brilliant acting, and his beautiful deep voice, among other things. And it was his appealing voice only that gave him the ticket to give his voice to characters in superhit movies like Moana and DC’s League of Super-Pets.
But little do fans know that Dwayne Johnson’s, aka The Rock’s first animated movie before these superhit movies, i.e. Planet 51 almost didn’t release. And – believe it or not – the reason behind it is absolutely bizarre.
Dwayne Johnson’s First $105M Animated Movie That Almost Didn’t Happen
Before getting Megahit Disney animated movies like Moana, Dwayne Johnson was first offered the animated sci-fi comedy movie, Planet 51. However, something rather peculiar happened right before the release of the movie, which threatened the very existence of the movie.
While the Johnson-starred movie Planet 51 was originally set to be released as “Planet One”, due to a bizarre turn of events, the director had to change the movie’s name to “Planet 51”.
According to reports and sources, “Planet One” was the name of a company in the United States, which made TV programs for children and teenagers. When the company found out about the movie, Planet 51, having the same name as them, they threatened to sue the producers for the movie.
However, according to the Planet 51 movie producers, Ignacio Pérez Dolset and Guy Collins, they had no idea about the company’s existence, and thus apologized and decided to rename the movie to Planet 51 instead.
Story Behind Renaming the Dwayne Johnson Starrer Movie to Planet 51
For those who have watched the movie, many are still confused as to why it was renamed from “Planet One” to “Planet 51”. The producers, however, cleared this doubt too.
The Dwayne Johnson starrer Planet 51 was renamed to this name after Area 51, which is the supposed center of UFO investigation in the United States of America. Since the movie revolves around an astronaut (Capt. Charles “Chuck” Baker, voiced by Dwayne Johnson) who lands on Planet 51 thinking he is the first one to set foot on that alien planet and later discovers that that planet is already inhabited by little green people fearful of alien invasion, hence the reference behind the movie title is rather strong and appropriate.
It is said that the production of Dwayne Johnson’s Planet 51 took sixteen months to complete, with a budget of $70M – the most expensive movie ever to be produced in Spain.
You can watch Planet 51 on Amazon Prime Video.
