Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle was a surprise hit when it came out back in 2017. It put up the sort of box office numbers that virtually guarantees a sequel is going to get made. That movie is now in production and co-star Karen Gillan shared a new look at herself along with her three main co-stars. Along with the image comes a bit of rhyming verse that sets an ominous tone for Jumanji 3.
The rhyming verse is a standard part of the Jumanji movies, so it fits perfectly with the picture that brings Karen Gillan, Dwayne Johnson, Jack Black and Kevin Hart together again. In Welcome to the Jungle they played the four video game avatars that were inhabited by four teenagers. While those teens took steps to ensure nobody would play the Jumanji game again, it seems that the effort was in vain.
Of course, one has to wonder exactly what Karen Gillan means by saying "some things aren't as they seem." She's implying that there's something about the team that is not as it seems, though there's nothing about any of them that stands out. They certainly look like the same characters they were last time.
Of course there are a number of reasons things could be slightly different this time around. We know that the same group of kids who controlled the Jumanji avatars will be back in major roles. Of course, that doesn't necessarily mean they'll be the ones playing the game. We could see all new players who would in turn give these four characters entirely new personalities.
Alternatively, and probably more likely, we could see the same four kids switch around who is playing as which avatar. This means that we could see very different performances from these four characters. Each pairing in Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle was about matching each teen with a particular insecurity they had, but by the end of the story, they appeared to have overcome those issues. This may free them up to pick a new character and potentially explore a new story by doing so.
We'll likely have to wait and see, at least until the first trailer, to get an idea of how Jumanji 3, which probably won't be called that, will differentiate itself from the previous film. It may be some time before we see much, however. The movie is only filming now and plans to hit screens in December, which is a remarkably fast turn around for a film of its size. There may not be that much time between getting digital effects completed in post-production, and the film's release, making the window for a trailer a small one.
Still, based on the success of the last movie, marketing is the least of the concerns for the new Jumanji. There's a fan base looking forward to this sequel that will only need to wait until this holiday season.
