Sony Chief Wants ‘Jumanji’ Sequel To Open Against ‘Star Wars: Episode IX’

After becoming a surprise hit at the box office, it seems Sony’s Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle has given the studio enough confidence to compete against one of the biggest blockbusters of today, Star Wars.

A new report from The Wall Street Journal reveals Sony chief Tom Rothman is hoping to release a sequel to Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle in time to go up against Star Wars: Episode IX during the Holiday 2019 season. While a Welcome to the Jungle sequel has yet to be officially greenlit, the film has managed to pull in a $771 million global haul, topping the worldwide take of Justice League ($665.3M) and pushing the studio past $1 billion at the domestic box office for 2017.

The new Jumanji continues the legend introduced in the 1995 family film starring Robin Williams and Kirsten Dunst when four high schoolers discover Jumanji now in the form of an old video game and are sucked into the jungles of Jumanji taking on the form of four, very different avatars who must beat the game in order to return to the real world.

The film stars Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart, Karen Gillan, Jack Black, Rhys Darby, Morgan Turner, Tom Matheson and Nick Jonas. Here’s the official synopsis:

In a brand new Jumanji adventure, the tables are turned as four teenagers are sucked into Jumanji’s world – pitted against rhinos, black mambas and an endless variety of jungle traps and puzzles. To survive, they’ll play as characters from the game: meek Spencer becomes a stupid and girl crazy jock (Dwayne Johnson); football jock Fridge becomes a tiny Einstein (Kevin Hart); It-girl Bethany becomes a bookworm professor (Jack Black); and unathletic Martha becomes an amazonian warrior (Karen Gillan). To beat the game and return to the Planet Earth with their lives, they’ll have to start seeing things in an entirely different way.

Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle is now playing.

Source: WSJ