‘Jumanji Welcome to the Jungle’ is the ‘Jumanji 2’ title, Karen Gillan’s costume linked to Lara Croft
The Guardians of the Galaxy co-star Karen Gillan looked ahead at her role in the new Jumanji film, nicknamed Jumanji 2, which is now titled Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle.
Dwayne Johnson showed up to Sony Pictures’ big panel at CinemaCon to show off the very first footage from this new Jumanji movie, which he assured early on isn’t a reboot or remake, but instead a sequel to the 1995 original.
Unlike the original film which starred Robin Williams, this version of the story doesn’t revolve around a board game.
Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle centers on a video game from the 1990s as four high schoolers are stuck in detention, much like the 1985 classic film The Breakfast Club. As part of their punishment, they are called upon to clean the school’s basement. Amongst the junk that has been locked away is an old video game console and a cartridge for Jumanji: The Video Game.
Each kid gets to choose their own video game avatars. The four main characters in the game are based on the likenesses of Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart, Jack Black and Karen Gillan.
It’s clear that Gillan’s sexy, tight-fitting adventure gear is quite a contrast to her male co-stars, who look much more well-suited for the jungle. Gillan’s gear is an obvious nod the classic 90s video game character Lara Croft, whose Tomb Raider games debuted in 1996.
The footage screened featured a lot of running, jumping and fighting. There are slow motion fights, flame throwers and machine guns. The footage also revealed Nick Jonas’ character, who knows his way around the game world a little too well.
A hippo stampede in the footage paid direct homage to the original film. Black’s character, Professor Shelly Oberon, gets eaten and loses a life like in a video game. This provokes the group to finish the game to get out and back to the real world.
The biggest reveal is that the guide within the game knows Alan Parrish, who had spent a great amount of time navigating this adventure from inside the digital world.
Jake Kasdan (Orange County and Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story) will be directing the new film and also stars Alex Wolff, Ser’Darius Blain as Anthony “Fridge” Johnson, Madison Iseman, Morgan Turner, Maribeth Monroe, Missi Pyle, Rhys Darby, Marc Evan Jackson with Tim Matheson as Old Man Vreeke and Bobby Cannavale in an undisclosed role.
Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle arrives in theaters on December 20, 2017
