It has been seven years since Jumanji: The Next Level put the reboot franchise on its head, and now Sony Pictures is ready to show what comes next. In the wake of some teaser material, the studio has put out the full official trailer for Jumanji: Open World, the third in the mainline series, and set a firm date for a Christmas Day opening in 2026.
Jake Kasdan is back at the helm to direct, and the new footage from his latest effort makes clear this is the most audacious turn the modern series has taken. Where you might expect the game to be drawing in a new crop of teenagers via a digital console, the mechanics and denizens of Jumanji are instead making a forceful incursion into our own world. It is a thematic full circle of sorts, harkening back to the 1995 Robin Williams original while capping off the reboot trilogy.
The premise is laid out without delay. If the 2019 film left us with the image of wild beasts on the streets of a small town, Open World takes it a step further by having the avatars come to Earth. Dr. Smolder Bravestone (Dwayne Johnson), Franklin “Mouse” Finbar (Kevin Hart), Prof. Sheldon “Shelly” Oberon (Jack Black) and Ruby Roundhouse (Karen Gillan) have all crossed over.
Left to their own devices with the young players out of the picture, they find themselves in what can only be called “demo mode.” The result is a comedic dynamic unlike the first two installments. Here the hyper-programmed characters are the ones puttering about in the suburbs, contending with actual physics and learning the hard way that an ordinary tree in the neighborhood is no substitute for a video-game safe house.
The trailer does more than present the core four; it makes a point of the franchise’s wide-ranging ensemble. You will see the teenage contingent of Alex Wolff, Madison Iseman, Morgan Turner and Ser’Darius Blain back in action with the likes of Nick Jonas, Rhys Darby and Danny DeVito. They are joined by some new faces to the series as well: Brittany O’Grady, Burn Gorman and Lamorne Morris.
There is a method to Sony’s decision to put Open World on Christmas Day. The studio has moved the date from an early December slot to afford the film some space after the mid-December heavyweights of Dune: Part Three and Avengers: Doomsday have run their course. It is a calculated move to capture the holiday family audience with what they hope will be the season’s definitive counter-programming, a real-world take on a multi-billion dollar asset.
Jumanji: Open World is not afraid to put a big franchise on the line. The filmmakers have made the bold move of inverting the premise and having the video game avatars come out into the real world. Kasdan and company are not content to rest on their laurels with a tried and true formula; they have returned to the kind of suburban mayhem that was the hallmark of the 1995 film. In doing so, this threequel is positioned as a proper holiday occasion, something more than your typical run of the mill sequel.