Dwayne Johnson's much-anticipated Jumanji 3 now has a new title. The action adventure, also starring Kevin Hart, Jack Black and Karen Gillan, has now been named Jumanji: Open World. The announcement came from Hart, Johnson and Black during the CinemaCon presentation in Las Vegas where a trailer was also screened for the audiences.
According to Deadline, the trailer opens with a computer repairman (Lamorne Morris) coming into the home of Janice (Marin Hinkle), the mother of our teen protagonist, Spencer (Alex Wolff). Therein, he finds an old video game console. Cut to the exterior of a house with supernatural clouds brewing over it and a shot of ostriches storming through the streets of the real world.
Later, Spencer and friends cross paths with Spencer’s grandfather (Danny DeVito). He points to a corner booth where Dwayne Johnson’s game avatar Dr. Bravestone sits who is speaking in a Spanish accent for some unknown reasons. It looks like the characters in Jumanji have entered the real world including Hart, Gillan and Black.
Kevin Hart, Jack Black and Karen Gillan are reprising their roles as Franklin Finbar, Professor Sheldon "Shelly" Oberon and Ruby Roundhouse respectively besides Johnson's Dr Bravestone. Nick Jonas, Bebe Neuwirth, and Rhys Darby also return for the next installment, with Dan Hildebrand and Jack Jewkes joining as new cast members.
The reboot series follows a group of teenagers who find themselves trapped inside a video game. Apart from Alex Wolff, Madison Iseman, Ser’Darius Blaine, and Morgan Turner, who played the real-world teens in the previous two films, are also expected to return, along with Awkwafina.
The original Jumanji, directed by Joe Johnston was released in 1995 starring Robin Williams and Kirsten Dunst. It followed a group of kids who unleash a safari game into the reality of their hometown. An animated television series was also aired from 1996 to 1999, which was followed by a spin-off film, Zathura: A Space Adventure (2005).
The upcoming film Jumanji: Open World serves as the third instalment in the Jumanji reboot series. The first film Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle released in 2017 after which a sequel Jumanji: The Next Level hit theatres in 2019. Jake Kasdan, who helmed the first two parts, is returning to direct the third part, which is slated for a release on Christmas day this year.
Produced by Matt Tolmach, Johnson, Dany Garcia, Hiram Garcia and Kasdan, Jumanji 3 has a screenplay by Jeff Pinkner and Scott Rosenberg, who also wrote the earlier installments.