Jumanji: The Next Level - all you need to know
Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle became a mega hit when it arrived in December 2017.
Earning $962 million on a $100 million budget, it's absolutely no surprise that the sequel/reboot of the 1995 kids classic – which is one of Sony's most successful releases ever – is getting a follow-up.
Here's everything we know about the third Jumanji film, or, if you will, the second Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle film.
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Buy now Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle on Blu-ray, DVD or digital download
Jumanji The Next Level trailer: Watch it here!
Sony surprisingly dropped the first trailer for the new movie on July 1, confirming the title as Jumanji: The Next Level.
The hilarious trailer confirmed more of the same body-swapping hijinks that made the reboot such a hit, while offering the first teasers about what the sequel will be about.
Jumanji The Next Level release date: When's it coming?
The movie is out on December 13, 2019 in the UK and US.
That puts it up against another Star Wars movie (The Rise of Skywalker this time), which seems bold but worked out OK in 2017, so Sony will be hoping for more of the same in 2019.
Shooting began in January 2019 and wrapped up in early May, with Johnson marking the occasion on Instagram.
A post shared by therock (@therock) on May 11, 2019 at 3:47pm PDT
Jumanji The Next Level cast: Who's in it?
The core cast of Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart, Karen Gillian and Jack Black are all returning, as are their young counterparts, Alex Wolff, Ser'Darius Blain, Morgan Turner and Madison Iseman.
We got our first look at Johnson and co on March 12 and it seemed like they were playing the same characters as in Welcome to the Jungle.
A post shared by therock (@therock) on Mar 12, 2019 at 12:38pm PDT
However, the first trailer confirmed that Johnson's Dr Smolder Bravestone will actually be played by Danny DeVito's new character, Spencer's grandfather Eddie, and Hart's Franklin "Mouse" Finbar is played by Danny Glover's new character Milo.
We also now know that they'll be joined by Rhys Darby who's reprising his role as the NPC and players' guide Nigel.
Nick Jonas is coming back too as Jefferson 'Seaplane' McDonough, and so is Colin Hanks as the grown-up version of his character Alex who, as we learned in the first movie, had been trapped in the game for decades.
"I'm not allowed to discuss or confirm or deny anything involving the Jumanji sequel. With the exception of, I am in it," Hanks told The Hollywood Reporter.
Alongside DeVito and Glover, there are other newcomers in the form of Crazy Rich Asians star Awkwafina and Once Upon a Time's Dania Ramirez, but while we saw them in the first trailer, their roles are being kept under wraps for now.
Scott Rosenberg and Jeff Pinkner returned to write the sequel, along with director Jake Kasdan and producer Matt Tolmach.
A post shared by therock (@therock) on May 5, 2019 at 1:32pm PDT
Jumanji The Next Level plot: What's going to happen?
Remarkably for a modern movie, Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle did not introduce any obvious setup for a sequel, so there are no dangling threads that need resolving.
The film actually ended with the four friends destroying the Jumanji video game to stop anyone else becoming trapped in the jungle world. But the first trailer confirmed that Spencer (Wolff) decided to salvage the game and head back to the jungle.
"In Jumanji: The Next Level, the gang is back but the game has changed," the official synopsis reads.
"As they return to Jumanji to rescue one of their own, they discover that nothing is as they expect. The players will have to brave parts unknown and unexplored, from the arid deserts to the snowy mountains, in order to escape the world’s most dangerous game."
Beyond that, this does seem like a good opportunity to reveal what Jumanji really is, where it came from and what sort of horrendous person wanted to create it in the first place, but we're speculating now.
Kasdan has also promised that the film will feature more references to the original movie next time around.
Jumanji: The Next Level is out in cinemas on December 13.
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