While the original, Robin Williams-led Jumanji movie endured as a cult classic for several decades, it’s safe to say that the sequel/semi-reboot, Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, was a success across the board. Along with being met with numerous positive reviews, Welcome to the Jungle collected $962 million worldwide, making it the fifth highest grossing movie of 2017. Naturally Sony wants to keep the Jumanji train going, and while we’ve known for a while that the main stars of Welcome to the Jungle would be back for Jumanji 3, it turns out that the young actors who portrayed their real-life, teenage counterparts will return as well.
As those who’ve seen Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle will recall, four teenagers were transported into the Jumanji video game, whereupon they were turned into avatars from the game. Fortunately, Spencer Gilpin, Bethany Walker, Anthony "Fridge" Johnson and Martha Kaply were able to beat the game, resulting being returned to the real world in their normal bodies. THR has now dropped the news that Alex Wolff, Madison Iseman, Ser’Darius Blain and Morgan Turner will all reprise their respective roles in Jumanji 3, meaning that they’re in for another round of jungle-themed insanity courtesy of a mystical game.
Back when it was announced that Dwayne Johnson, Jack Black, Kevin Hart and Karen Gillan would be back for Jumanji 3, it wasn’t clear if the same teens from Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle would be turned into those avatars again or if new people would “play” those characters, allowing for these avatars to have different personalities. Judging by this report, it sounds like Spencer, Bethany, Fridge and Martha will be major characters again rather than just make cameo appearances, so they’ll be sucked back into that crazy video game. One way Jumanji 3 could put a fresh spin on the material is by having the teens (who could be in college at this point) play different avatars, thus allowing the avatar actors to display different personalities.
Along with all these actors returning for Jumanji 3, Jake Kasdan will also be directing again. As for new faces, Awkwafina, Danny DeVito and Danny Glover have been cast in undisclosed roles. No plot details for the threequel have been revealed yet either, although Jack Black was interested in seeing the movie head to space. Karen Gillan also humorously pitched having an old man fill the Ruby Roundhouse role in Jumanji 3, although now that the quartet of teens are confirmed to return, it’s doubtful Gillan’s idea will actually happen.
Jumanji 3 will cause pandemonium in theaters on December 13 (it is so far the only movie slotted to open on that date), so stay tuned to CinemaBlend for continuing coverage. In the meantime, you can learn what other movies are opening this year by looking through our 2019 release schedule.
