Sony makes it official, ‘Jumanji 3’ coming Christmas 2019, Dwayne Johnson confirmed

As Sony closed out their CinemaCon presentation, chairman Tom Rothman confirmed earlier rumors that the new Jumanji film will indeed arrive next December and that Dwayne Johnson will be back.

“Don’t give all your screens to Star Wars,” he said.

Rothman confirmed that Dwayne Johnson was set to return, although there’s no word yet if co-stars Kevin Hart, Jack Black, and Karen Gillan will also be on board, although previous reports indicated that they would be back as well.

The script is currently being written by Scott Rosenberg and Jeff Pinkner, but no director is currently attached.

Jake Kasdan (Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story) helmed Welcome to the Jungle, but Sony didn’t hint at bringing him back. Deadline reported that “Jake Kasdan is also expected to be back,” but we can’t confirm that at this time.

The first film, released in 1995,  inspired by the illustrated Chris Van Allsburg book, was directed by The Rocketeer director Joe Johnston, delivering groundbreaking CGI at the time. Robin Williams starred in the adventure about a board game that had the power to suck a player into its world, and also to unleash parts of that world out into our own.

Last year’s smash hit,  Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, both a sequel and a reboot, turned the story on its head, transporting a group of teens into the jungle world, and have to play the game to escape. The film was surprisingly very entertaining, and funny. Black in particular garnered a lot of laughs playing a teen girl trapped in the body of, well, Jack Black.

The third Jumanji film will arrive in theaters Christmas 2019