Jumanji 3 Plans Get Major Update With Dwayne Johnson

A third installment in filmmaker Jake Kasdan’s Jumanji series is “definitely going to happen,” according to executive producer Hiram Garcia. Garcia, who regularly works with Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson on his film projects, promised that there are ongoing conversations about Jumanji, and that fans should expect to hear some news once Johnson, Kasdan, and Captain America star Chris Evans are done making Red One, the upcoming holiday action comedy for Prime Video. That project has been taking up a lot of bandwidth, according to Garcia, but that’s the only reason nobody has been making some serious progress on the Jumanji franchise.

This will actually be the fourth movie, counting the board game-themed version from Robin Williams. Still, Jumanji 3 seems like a good way to frame it, since Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle and Jumanji: The Next Level both featured video game theming and a consistent cast and crew.

“Jumanji is definitely going to happen,” Garcia told Collider. “Obviously Jake Kasdan is directing ‘Red One’ [upcoming Prime Video holiday movie], so right now he’s working on that. But we have a ton of Jumanji conversations. We actually have a great take on what we’re going to do for the next movie. So I know in talking with Jake, once he comes clear of Red One, that’s going to be his next priority for him and that’s something we definitely want to make.”

It’s no surprise Sony is eager to make more; the first Jumanji from Kasdan and company earned almost $1 billion at the global box office, and its sequel pulled in $800 million. With the Men in Black franchise on life support, James Bond likely headed to Amazon, and uneven returns from their Spider-Man universe of characters, the studio will take all the drama-free franchises they can get.

“We have a really big vision for that third Jumanji movie,” Garcia recently said. “We just were discussing the pitch the other day. We’re bringing it into Sony shortly. But that movie’s going to happen. It’s going to happen after Red One, but that timing actually works out well with all of the actors scheduled anyway. As you can imagine, Kevin [Hart] is super busy doing a million things, just like DJ is. All of the actors are super busy. So the timing is going to work out great, but we have a really great pitch for the movie we’re about to bring into the studio, probably going to get a script written soon. Sometime after Red One, Jumanji’s going to be on deck once it’s ready to go, and we have a really big vision for that movie.”

Garcia added, “We love it, and we love that Jumanji family. That cast, the group of filmmakers, it’s one of our favorite experiences, love that whole team, Matt Tolmach, Jake Kasdan. But then when you’re having Jack [Black] and Karen [Gillan] and Kevin, again, another one of those special movies where you have just a bunch of giant megastar actors, and it’s just all the best. Those sets are one of the most fun sets you could ever be on. Everyone is so kind, so delightful. They all get along so well. It’s such a family that making those movies is just a true joy. Whenever we can do them, we love to come back for it, so that’s always a priority for us. That’s a big one for us that we definitely want to be able to come back and tell that third movie.”