Columbia Pictures has announced “Jumanji 3” (final title yer to be determined) is now on the slate, expected to be completed and released two years from now. Everyone who starred in the 2017 and 2019 movies is expected to return again as avatars of the once evil board game turned evil video game, including Dwayne Johnson, Karen Gillan, Kevin Hart and Jack Black, as well as director Jake Kasdan.
I had the same question you did when this came across my desk. “Jumanji 3? Which movie are they not counting?” There have been three Jumanji movies already: the 1995 original, “Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle” from 2017, and “Jumanji: The Next Level” from 2019. I have the dread feeling it’s the Williams / Dunst film they’re leaving out, as it’s so different from the more recently released sequels.
I regard the original Jumanji as the film that closed the book on the “unexpectedly scary children’s movie,” a genre that used to be plentiful. The 80s were full of these things, but they became less common in the following decade until they disappeared entirely. A lot happens in the ’95 Jumanji that’s unnerving, especially toward the end when everybody’s dying and the house is falling apart. But one thing you notice is how much CG is creeping into cinema at this point and how unconvincing it looks here. Being unable to fully believe in the danger lessens it somewhat. Family films kind of softened up after this point.
It was a giant gamble to change the tone entirely and make the 2017 Jumanji a flat-out comedy (as well as change the setting to inside the jungle itself), but it paid off — audiences embraced the new version. But you can’t erase the original, Columbia — that’s just wrong. More on “Jumanji 3” (which we’re calling Jumanji 4) as it is revealed.
