Who knew that making a legacyquel to a 1995Robin Williamsfamily flick would result in a movie that could go toe-to-toe withStar Wars?Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, which carried a relatively modest budget of $100 million, has earned $857 million worldwide and shows no signs of slowing down. Its domestic gross of $352 million puts it on track to beDwayne Johnson’s most successful movie of his career. So naturally, plans for a sequel are on the fast track.
Deadlinereports that Sony has hired writersScott RosenbergandJeff Pinknerto write a sequel that will “reunite Dwayne Johnson withKevin Hart,Jack BlackandKaren Gillanand the rest of the ensemble.” Whether that means the high school actors in the real world or just the characters inside of Jumanji remains to be seen. Rosenberg and Pinkner did the last pass on theWelcome to the Junglescreenplay following writersChris McKennaandErik Sommers. They also worked on the script forVenom, so Sony clearly likes working with the duo.
There’s no plot yet for the thirdJumanjimovie because Rosenberg and Pinkner haven’t started writing it yet, but it will be interesting to see what new spin they can concoct. The first movie was about bringing the game into the real world and the sequel is about taking people from the real world and putting them inside the game. It would be neat if they maybe created a crossover of sorts withZathura, which Sony also owns and is based on anotherChris Van Allsburgbook about a magical board game. It will also be interesting to see how they put these characters together again since their personalities are based on the teenagers in the real world. If you have the “avatars” based on different people, how does that change the dynamic?
In any event, it will be interesting to see how fast they can turn out a new installment if they’re hoping to ride the popularity fromWelcome to the Jungle.
