Last December saw a number of notable movies be released, but the biggest commercial powerhouses of the bunch were Star Wars: The Last Jedi and Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle. While The Last Jedi being financially successful isn't a shocker given how this film series has performed in the past, Welcome to the Jungle (a quasi-reboot to 1995's Robin Williams-led Jumanji) exceeded expectations, becoming the fifth highest-grossing movie of 2017. What's also interesting is that Welcome to the Jungle's director, Jake Kasdan, has ties to the Star Wars franchise because his father, Lawrence, and his brother, Jon, have both worked on Star Wars movies. However, Kasdan is not particularly interested in working on any kind of project set in a galaxy far, far away because he values his Star Wars fandom too much. Kasdan explained:
I'm just a huge fan. There's a part of me that feels like you relinquish that when you step behind the curtain. I love the rooting position I've been in with the ones that my dad and now my brother have worked on. It's a really exciting thing to be near, without the pressure and anxiety of carrying it.
For those who don't know, Lawrence Kasdan co-wrote The Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi, The Force Awakens and the upcoming Solo: A Star Wars Story, the latter of which he penned with Jon Kasdan. However, rather than follow in the footsteps of his father and brother, Jake Kasdan told Business Insider that it's not something he's "super focused on." For now, he's perfectly content sitting with the rest of us and watching the new Star Wars movies as a fan. Besides, Kasdan has enough to keep busy with in the coming years.
Jake Kasdan has been directing for two decades now, with his work including movies like Zero Effect, Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story, Bad Teacher and Sex Tape, as well as episodes of TV shows like Freaks and Geeks, New Girl and Fresh Off the Boat. It's safe to say, though, that Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle was his biggest project yet, and he's not done with this property yet. It was officially announced last month that Kasdan will direct Jumanji 3, which will also see Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart, Karen Gillan and Jack Black reprising their respective roles, as well as Scott Rosenberg and Jeff Pinkner returning to pen the script. So even if Kasdan was interested in working on something Star Wars-related, for now his attention is dedicated to helping create another enticing story about people thrown into a crazy game.
Both Star Wars: The Last Jedi and Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle are now available for purchase on Digital HD, and their Blu-ray/DVD releases will follow on March 27, and March 20, respectively. Jumanji 3 doesn't have an official release date yet, though it's possible that it may ready in time for December 2019, meaning that like its predecessor, it would overlap with a Star Wars movie.
