Sony dropped the first trailer for the anticipated ‘Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle’ on Thursday morning. And for what the trailer reveals, the sequel comes with a quite a twist.
‘Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle’ hits theater on December 20th, starring Kevin Hart, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Jack Black and Nick Jonas.
It’s a sequel, not a reboot
’90s kid, you’re finally having a sequel for the classic 1995 adventure movie ‘Jumanji’, and it’s quite a different ride.
The first trailer of ‘Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle’ was finally revealed. The adventure will definitely not give us the trip down memory lane that most expected, but will still deliver.
It definitely has a kinda ‘Breakfast Club’ vibe, mixed with the original ‘Jumanji’ movie soul.
The clip shows four high schoolers stepping into a video game called Jumanji. Soon enough they find themselves stuck in the game as the avatars they chose.
And so the adventure begins, they discover they have special abilities and suddenly, Nick Jonas shows up and there’s a lot of running and jumping.
Yes, you can call the body-swapping concept. According to producer Matt Tolmach is pretty much a key part of the film and a major departure from the original.
“We always talk about [Welcome to the Jungle] as another ‘Jumanji’ adventure,” he told EW.
“It is very much the spirit of Jumanji, but with a different group of people and sort of a different idea. But the idea of the game that comes to life is the DNA there,” he added.
Director Jake Kasdan also pointed out what the body-swapping concept adds to the story.
“It allows this level of candor and examination because the characters are teenagers who are trying to figure out their own person, and in these new people, it complicates that mess,” Kasdan said.
Rumors and landing a production
22 years have passed since the late great Robin Williams starred as a man who has been trapped in a board game for 26 years before being released by a couple of kids.
For years rumors of a new production of the wild adventure flew, without no official confirmation.
Then, in 2015 Sony Pictures Entertainment announced their plans to release the film under Matthew Tolmach alongside William Teitler, who produced the original film.
The cast was announced in 2016, including household names such as Jack Black, Kevin Hart, and Dwayne Johson.
The sequel was directed by Jake Kasdan and the cript penned by Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers.
Starring as the four teens are Alex Wolff, Ser’ Darius Blain, Madison Iseman and Morgan Turner. While acting as the teen’s video game characters are Dwayne Johson, Kevin Hart, Jack Black and Karen Gillan. Nick Jonas was also cast as a video game character.
‘Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle’ premieres on December 20.
Source: Billboard