Sony dates Jumanji: Open World for Christmas

Sony Pictures will open Jumanji: Open World on Christmas Day, positioning the film against a crowded holiday box office.

The release date follows a busy mid-December period. Avengers: Doomsday and Dune: Part Three are expected to dominate screens during that stretch, with the new Jumanji entry arriving the following week.

Jake Kasdan directs the film. He also directed the 2017 and 2019 installments. The 2017 movie, Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, earned more than $960 million worldwide. Its 2019 sequel, The Next Level, performed similarly well at the box office.

Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart, Jack Black, and Karen Gillan return for this production. The synopsis describes the movie as the final installment of the trilogy. In this story, the game escapes its console and releases its chaos into the real world.

A mid-credits scene from The Next Level set up this plot. In that scene, a heater repairman played by Lamorne Morris visits the home of Spencer Gilpin, played by Alex Wolff. He notices a broken video game console and accidentally restarts the game. Development on the third film paused during the pandemic before resuming in 2024.

The new trailer includes a nod to the original 1995 film. It also hints at a mystery from the previous movie. In 2019, Johnson revealed that the villain Jurgen the Brutal, played by Rory McCann, was actually the avatar of an unknown real-world player.