Dwayne Johnson has confirmed that production is underway on the as-yet untitled Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle sequel (aka. Jumanji 3). The original Jumanji movie hit theaters back in 1995 and was itself loosely based on the illustrated children’s book of the same name by Chris Van Allsburg. While the film earned mixed reviews upon its release, it was a box office success in theaters and went on to become a nostalgic classic for many a child of the ’90s. As such, fans has complicated feelings when it was announced that Johnson would be starring in a soft reboot or partial continuation of the 1995 film titled Welcome to the Jungle.
However, thanks to a combination of the film’s charismatic performances and its creative video game spin on the idea of the enchanted Jumanji board game, Welcome to the Jungle hit it off with critics and general audiences alike. Powered by its enthusiastic word of mouth, the late 2017 release went on to gross $962 million at the global box office, thus ensuring that a third Jumanji adventure would come to pass. It didn’t take long for Sony to confirm a December 2019 release date for the film either, with Johnson and his costars reprising their roles and Jake Kasdan once again directing. Now, with almost exactly ten months to go before it hits theaters, filming is fully underway.
Johnson, who remains as social media savvy as ever, took to Twitter to confirm that the cameras are now rolling on the Welcome to the Jungle sequel. He also posted a photo of the Jumanji video game cartridge from the film’s set, as you can see below.
You might recall that Welcome to the Jungle ended with the film’s teenaged characters - all of whom are reprising their roles for the sequel - smashing the Jumanji cartridge to pieces and walking off triumphantly. Needless to say, it takes more than that to stop the magical game from coming back for good, as evidenced by its miraculous recovery in this set image. Speaking of returns: Johnson will be joined in the next Jumanji movie by his costars Kevin Hart, Jack Black, Karen Gillan, and Nick Jonas as the various characters that exist within the world of Jumanji itself. However, since story details are being kept under-wraps for the time being, it’s not clear yet if Welcome to the Jungle’s real-world teenagers (Ser’Darius Blain, Alex Wolff, Madison Iseman, Morgan Turner) are going to be once again “playing” Johnson and his fellow in-game avatars in the new movie or not.
It’s quite possible that one or more of the franchise newcomers in the new Jumanji movie are going to be venturing into the virtual jungle instead, this time around. So far, the confirmed new additions include Awkwafina (Crazy Rich Asians), Danny DeVito (It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia), and Danny Glover (Sorry to Bother You), all of whom are reportedly tackling important roles in the film. Of course, part of the fun of the revamped Jumanji concept is that anyone can “play” any of the avatars in the Jumanji game itself, and that will no doubt continue to be the case here. It’s fun to imagine Jumanji’s leads channeling any one of their costars, so who knows: Gillan may yet get to “play” an old man in Jumanji 3, like she told us she wanted to shortly after Welcome to the Jungle first came out.
MORE: Jumanji 3 Will Have More Connections to the Original Film
Source: Dwayne Johnson
- Jumanji 3 Release Date: 2019-12-13
