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Jumanji: The Next Level

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Jumanji: The Next Level
File:JumanjiTheNextLevelTeaserPoster.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed byJake Kasdan
Written by
Based onJumanji
by Chris Van Allsburg
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyGyula Pados
Edited bySteve Edwards
Music byHenry Jackman
Distributed bySony Pictures Releasing
Release date
  • December 13, 2019 (2019-12-13) (United States)
Running time
123 minutes[1]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$125–132 million[2][3]
Box office$212.6 million[2][4]

Jumanji: The Next Level is a 2019 American fantasy adventure comedy film directed by Jake Kasdan and written by Kasdan, Jeff Pinkner and Scott Rosenberg. It is the second sequel to 1995's Jumanji, following 2017's Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, and the fourth installment, overall, in the Jumanji franchise. The film stars Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart, Jack Black, Karen Gillan, Nick Jonas, Alex Wolff, Morgan Turner, Ser'Darius Blain, and Madison Iseman, reprising their roles from the previous film, alongside newcomers Awkwafina, Danny Glover, and Danny DeVito.

The film was theatrically released in the United States on December 13, 2019 by Sony Pictures Releasing under its Columbia Pictures label. The film received mixed to positive reviews from critics and has grossed $212.6 million worldwide so far.

Plot

Three years after the events of the previous film, Spencer, Fridge, Martha, and Bethany have gone their separate ways but make plans to meet up in Brantford. However, Spencer is apprehensive about meeting up with everyone, especially Martha whom he put his relationship with on hold, due to thinking they have better lives. On his first night there, he realizes that his time within Jumanji was what made him feel relevant and sets out to return.

The next day, Fridge, Martha, and Bethany become concerned when Spencer fails to show up. Heading to his house, they meet Spencer's grandfather Eddie, who's staying at the house while recovering from hip surgery, and his former friend Milo Walker. While there, the group discover that Spencer deliberately kept the broken pieces of the Jumanji game and resolve to go in and get him, but the malfunctioning game sucks in only Fridge and Martha, along with Eddie and Milo, forcing Bethany to reach out to fellow Jumanji player Alex Vreeke to help get in.

In the game, Martha finds she's back in the Ruby Roundhouse avatar, but Fridge winds up in Professor Oberon's form while Eddie and Milo get Bravestone and Mouse respectively. After Fridge gets eaten by a python, costing him his first life, NPC guide Nigel Billingsley informs them the game has changed: a warlord named Jurgen the Brutal, who in this game is responsible for the deaths of Bravestone's parents, recently stole a magic necklace called the Falcon's Heart. As its magic provides fertility to the land so long as it stays in the sun, a drought struck the land when Jurgen stole the jewel. They must retrieve it before he sells it to a crime syndicate so both groups can combine, and show it to the sun in order to end the drought and save Jumanji.

Nigel drops the group in a desert called the Dunes, where they discover that they have a new set of strengths and weaknesses. After escaping a flock of ostriches, at the cost of Eddie's first life, they stop at a nearby oasis. While there, they find Spencer, in the body of a new avatar, a female thief named Ming Fleetfoot, who loses his first life and apologizes to the group for his mistake. After an encounter with a former lover of Bravestone's and her husband Switchblade, Fridge and Martha retrieve an in-game required Jumanji Berry. They also discover a pool of water with a green glow that makes them switch avatars until reentering the water. Eddie, Milo, and Spencer secure Dromedary camels to get them through the desert. But after escaping the oasis, Switchblade uses a rocket launcher to take out a life from every teammate after Eddie gets too overconfident on defeating his men into delaying the team.

Problems plague the group: Fridge feels that Oberon's status as a field guide is detrimental to their survival, Spencer is too self-conscious to use Ming's skills properly, Milo's casual attitude keeps him from revealing key info in a timely manner, and Eddie's pure acts of carelessness lead to everyone, including himself, losing several lives. Their problems are made worse as Eddie blames Milo for selling their diner behind his back, forcing him into retirement. An argument between the two leads to Milo getting crushed by a giant boulder, costing him his second life.

After escaping a troop of mandrills at a series of revolving bridges, with Martha losing her second life in the process, the group, now on their last lives, reunites with Alex and Bethany, whose avatar is now a black winged horse named Cyclone. They eventually find a river with water similar to what Fridge and Martha found by the Jumanji Fruit Tree. Spencer, Fridge, and Bethany get their original avatars back, while Eddie and Milo end up as Ming and Cyclone respectively, but they are captured by Jurgen's men shortly after.

In Jurgen's fortress, Fridge and Bethany stall the mercenaries while Spencer and Martha save Eddie, and Alex rescues Milo at the cost of 2 lives. While the group holds Jurgen's men off, Spencer gets in a fight with Jurgen inside an airship and uses the Jumanji Berry (Jurgen's only weakness) to incapacitate him long enough to send Jurgen falling to his death. Milo's avatar is revealed to have wings and with Eddie riding him they fly to help Spencer. He gets the Falcon's Heart to Eddie and Milo, who expose it to sunlight and save Jumanji. Eddie, Spencer, Fridge, Martha, Bethany and Alex return to the real world. Due to the fact that he was dying and was only there to make up with Eddie, Milo elects to stay behind and protect Jumanji.

In the aftermath, Spencer starts teaching his grandfather about video games and reunites with his friends at Eddie's old diner where Eddie uses Bravestone's "smoldering intensity" to convince the new owner Nora Shepperd to bring him on as a manager.

In a mid-credits scene, a heating mechanic Spencer's mom hired finally shows up. They find the game in the basement and the mechanic's tinkering presumably sucks them both into the game and releases a flock of ostriches into the real world, which Spencer, Fridge, Martha and Bethany witness from outside the diner.

Cast

  • Dwayne Johnson as Dr. Smolder Bravestone: Eddie's avatar (who was previously Spencer's); a strong, confident archaeologist, explorer, and the leader of the team; his only weakness is now a man named Switchblade. Johnson also portrays Bravestone's father during a cutscene flashback.
    • Danny DeVito as Eddie Gilpin: Spencer's cranky, but well-meaning grandfather.
    • Zachary Tzegaegbe as a young Smolder Bravestone
  • Jack Black as Professor Sheldon "Shelly" Oberon: Fridge's new avatar (who was previously Bethany's); a paleontologist, archaeologist, cartographer, cryptographer and now a geometrician, with a weakness for endurance, and currently heat, sun and sand.
    • Ser'Darius Blain as Anthony "Fridge" Johnson: A Brantford High School football jock, who cares more about football than studying. He and Spencer, who were childhood friends, reconciled by the end of the previous film after years of disassociation. His experience as Franklin "Mouse" Finbar in Jumanji helped him learn to rely on others and his brain rather than brawn.
  • Kevin Hart as Franklin "Mouse" Finbar: Milo's avatar (who was previously Fridge's); a diminutive zoologist, weapons specialist and currently linguist, who has a weakness to cake.
  • Karen Gillan as Ruby Roundhouse: Martha's avatar; a commando with talents in martial arts and is now able to wield nunchucks while still having a weakness to venom.
    • Morgan Turner as Martha Kaply: A shy and cynical intellectual at Brantford High School. She and Spencer started a romantic relationship at the end of Welcome to the Jungle. Her experience as Ruby Roundhouse in Jumanji helped her learn to not be judgmental and to be more self-confident.
  • Nick Jonas as Jefferson "Seaplane" McDonough: Alex's avatar; a young aircraft pilot who has a weakness to mosquitoes.
    • Colin Hanks as Alex Vreeke: a married man with children, who as a teenage gamer, was trapped inside the Jumanji video game for 20 years. Until he was rescued and returned to the real world. In the video game, he took shelter in a home built by a previous player named "Alan Parrish".
  • Awkwafina as Ming Fleetfoot: Spencer's avatar; a new avatar with skills of burglary, pick-pocketing and lock picking who has a weakness to pollen.
    • Alex Wolff as Spencer Gilpin: A nerdy student at Brantford High School, who is Eddie's grandson, his previous experience as Smolder Bravestone in Jumanji helped him cope with anxiety and panphobia and to develop assertiveness. Spencer rebuilt Jumanji after Fridge had destroyed it. He then gets sucked into the game for a second time, and his friends, grandfather, and his grandfather's friend follow with a plan to rescue him.
  • Madison Iseman as Bethany Walker: A pretty, popular, egocentric teenage girl at Brantford High School. Her first experience as Sheldon Oberon in Jumanji helped her learn to care more about others. In Bethany's next visit to Jumanji, she ends up in the body of a black winged horse named Cyclone, who serves as her new avatar where it has retractable wings and a horse language that can only be translated by Mouse.
  • Rhys Darby as Nigel Billingsley: The players' main in-game NPC (Non-Player Character) guide.
  • Rory McCann as Jurgen the Brutal: The new villain of Jumanji, an iron-fisted and arrogant warlord who killed Smolder Bravestone's parents a long time ago.
  • John Ross Bowie as Jurgen's spokesperson: A minion of Jurgen.
  • Dania Ramirez as Flame: An NPC seductress and Bravestone's ex-girlfriend.
  • Marin Hinkle as Mrs. Gilpin: The mother of Spencer.
  • Bebe Neuwirth as Nora Shepherd: A kindly restaurateur whom Eddie despises due to her buying the diner that he and Milo previously owned. She previously appeared as Peter and Judy's aunt in the first film where she once wanted to turn the Parrish mansion into a bed and breakfast business.[5]

Additionally, Lamorne Morris has been cast as the heater repairman and Lucy DeVito has been cast in a still-undisclosed role. Massi Furlan and Ashley Scott appear as Switchblade and Ashley, respectively, although she later revealed her scene was cut from the film.

Production

Development

After the release of the previous film Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, Dwayne Johnson, Jack Black, and Nick Jonas had discussed in interviews what a possible Jumanji sequel would be about, including the possibility of the film exploring the origins of the titular game. Karen Gillan had also said that the alternate ending for Welcome to the Jungle would have left the door open for another movie.[6][7][8][9] In February 2018, it was announced that Kasdan would direct the sequel, with Rosenberg and Pinkner again writing the script and Johnson, Hart, Black, and Gillan reprising their roles.[10]

On February 22, 2019, Black confirmed the new film as being a fourth Jumanji film because of Zathura: A Space Adventure (2005) serving as the second film and sharing continuity with the other films of the series, with Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle serving as the third film.[11] In July 2019, the film's title was revealed as Jumanji: The Next Level.[12]

Casting

In January 2019, Awkwafina, Danny DeVito, and Danny Glover joined the film.[13][14] In February 2019, it was announced Alex Wolff, Ser'Darius Blain, Madison Iseman, Morgan Turner, and Nick Jonas were announced to reprise their roles.[15][16] In March 2019, Dania Ramirez joined the cast of the film.[17] That same month, it was announced Rhys Darby would reprise his role in the film.[18] In May 2019, it was announced Colin Hanks would reprise his role.[19]

Filming

Filming began on January 21, 2019, and took place in Atlanta, New Mexico, Calgary, Fortress Mountain Resort, Imperial Dunes and Hawaii before wrapping on May 11.[20][21][22] Johnson made a reported $23.5 million for his role.[23]

Music

Henry Jackman is set to create the musical score after having worked on the previous film.

Release

In the United States and Canada, the film was released in on December 13, 2019. The film was released on December 5, 2019 in China, Singapore, Malaysia and several other Asian countries (and also in Czechia). In the Nordic countries and the Netherlands the film premiered in cinemas on December 6, 2019. The film's Australian release date is December 26, 2019.[24]

The first trailer was released on July 1, 2019.[25] A second and final trailer was released on October 31, 2019.[26]

Reception

Box office

As of December 15, 2019, Jumanji: The Next Level has grossed $60.1 million in the United States and Canada, and $152.5 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $212.6 million, against a production budget of about $125 million.[2][4]

In the United States and Canada, the film was released alongside Black Christmas and Richard Jewell, and was projected to gross $45–55 million from 4,227 theaters in its opening weekend.[27] The film made $19.4 million on its first day, including $4.7 million from Thursday night previews. It went on to debut to $60.1 million, topping the box office.[3]

Critical response

The review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported an approval rating of 66% based on 157 reviews, with an average rating of 5.92/10. The website's critics consensus reads: "Like many classic games, Jumanji: The Next Level retains core components of what came before while adding enough fresh bits to keep things playable."[28] Metacritic, another review aggregator, assigned the film a weighted average score of 58 out of 100 based on 34 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[29] Audiences polled by PostTrak gave the film an average 3.5 out of 5 stars, with 58% saying they would definitely recommend it.[3]

References

  1. ^ "Jumanji: The Next Level". British Board of Film Classification. November 27, 2019. Retrieved December 5, 2019.
  2. ^ a b c "Jumanji: The Next Level (2019)". Box Office Mojo. IMDb. Retrieved December 15, 2019.
  3. ^ a b c D'Alessandro, Anthony (December 15, 2019). "How Sony Took 'Jumanji' To 'The Next Level' With A $60M+ Opening; 'Richard Jewell' & 'Black Christmas' Earn Lumps Of Coal". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved December 15, 2019.
  4. ^ a b "Jumanji: The Next Level (2019)". The Numbers. IMDb. Retrieved December 15, 2019.
  5. ^ "RTF EXCLUSIVE: JUMANJI 3 To Bring Back Someone From Robin Williams' Original, More!". Revenge of the Fans. March 11, 2019. Retrieved November 2, 2019.
  6. ^ Rob Keyes. "Nick Jonas Has A Funny Idea For The Next Jumanji Sequel". Screen Rant. Archived from the original on June 9, 2018. Retrieved January 30, 2018.
  7. ^ Matt Dolloff. "Jack Black Has A Great Idea For Jumanji 3". Screen Rant. Archived from the original on June 8, 2018. Retrieved January 30, 2018.
  8. ^ Christopher Isaac. "Here's Who Jumanji's Stars Want to See in Jumanji 3". Screen Rant. Archived from the original on June 11, 2018. Retrieved January 30, 2018.
  9. ^ Chris Evangelista. "The 'Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle' Cast Have 'Jumanji 3' Ideas, Plus an Alternate Ending for the New Sequel". Slash Film.
  10. ^ Fleming, Mike Jr. (February 6, 2018). "Scott Rosenberg & Jeff Pinkner To Write 'Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle' Sequel". Deadline Hollywood. Penske Business Media. Archived from the original on February 7, 2018. Retrieved February 6, 2018.
  11. ^ @Fandom (February 24, 2019). "Jack Black says the next Jumanji film is actually the 4th in the series – 'You forgot about the one in space ... 'Zathura 🚀👾" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  12. ^ Rubin, Rebecca (July 1, 2019). "'Jumanji: The Next Level' Drops First Trailer". Variety. Retrieved July 1, 2019.
  13. ^ Kroll, Justin (January 3, 2019). "Awkwafina Joins Dwayne Johnson and Kevin Hart in 'Jumanji' Sequel". Variety. Retrieved January 21, 2019.
  14. ^ Kroll, Justin (January 4, 2019). "Danny DeVito Joins Dwayne Johnson in 'Jumanji' Sequel (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. Retrieved January 21, 2019.
  15. ^ D'Alessandro, Anthony (February 4, 2019). "'Jumanji' Teen Gang Return For Sequel". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved February 4, 2019.
  16. ^ N'Duka, Amanda (February 6, 2019). "Nick Jonas Officially Returning For Sony's 'Jumanji' Sequel". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved February 6, 2019.
  17. ^ D'Alessandro, Anthony (March 5, 2019). "Dania Ramirez Journeys To 'Jumanji' Sequel; James Moses Black Books 'Black And Blue'". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved March 5, 2019.
  18. ^ N'Duka, Amanda (March 11, 2019). "Rhys Darby To Reprise His Role In 'Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle' Sequel". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved March 11, 2019.
  19. ^ McVey, Ciara (May 7, 2019). "Colin Hanks Returning For 'Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle' Sequel". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved May 7, 2019.
  20. ^ Marc, Christopher (October 21, 2018). "'Jumanji' Sequel To Start Filming On January 21st In Atlanta - Adds 'Captain Marvel' Art Director - GWW". thegww.com. Retrieved October 25, 2018.
  21. ^ Jirak, Jamie (May 11, 2019). "The Rock Wraps Production on 'Jumanji' Sequel". Comic Book. Retrieved June 23, 2019.
  22. ^ Volmers, Eric (April 10, 2019). "Jumanji sequel to film in Kananaskis next week". Calgary Herald. Retrieved July 30, 2019.
  23. ^ Welk, Brian (August 22, 2019). "Dwayne Johnson, Chris Hemsworth Top Forbes' 2019 Highest-Paid Actors List (Photos)". TheWrap. Retrieved August 22, 2019.
  24. ^ Weatherall, Bryan. "Jumanji 2 Australian Release Date". Resident Entertainment. Retrieved November 8, 2019.
  25. ^ Couch, Aaron (July 1, 2019). "'Jumanji: The Next Level' Debuts First Trailer". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved July 3, 2019.
  26. ^ Dela Paz, Maggie (October 31, 2019). "Jumanji: The Next Level Final Trailer Takes You On a New Adventure". Comingsoon.net. Retrieved December 15, 2019.
  27. ^ Rubin, Rebecca (December 11, 2019). "Can 'Jumanji' Sequel Achieve Next-Level Box Office Success?". Variety. Retrieved December 11, 2019.
  28. ^ "Jumanji: The Next Level (2019)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved December 15, 2019.
  29. ^ "Jumanji: The Next Level Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved December 13, 2019.