Principal photography took place between January 21 and May 11, 2019, in locations including Atlanta, New Mexico, Alberta, and Hawaii. Jumanji: The Next Level was released in the United States on December 13, 2019, by Sony Pictures Releasing. The film received generally positive reviews from critics and grossed $801.7 million worldwide against a $125–132 million budget, becoming the tenth-highest-grossing film of 2019. A sequel is set for release on December 11, 2026.
Plot
After their adventures in Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, Spencer Gilpin, Anthony "Fridge" Johnson, Martha Kaply, and Bethany Walker plan to meet up over Christmas break to hang out after being apart for their first semester of college. Spencer, feeling despondent that his life is not as glamorous as his friends', enters Jumanji, wanting to feel like his avatar again: the strong, courageous Dr. Smolder Bravestone.
On visiting his house when Spencer fails to show up as planned, his friends are shocked to realize he entered the game. They follow him, knowing he cannot get out by himself. Unfortunately, Spencer's grandfather Eddie and Eddie's estranged friend Milo, who are upstairs, are also sucked into the game. As Bethany is left behind, she turns to Alex Vreeke for help.
Martha once again becomes the avatar Ruby Roundhouse, but Fridge becomes Bethany's old avatar, Professor Sheldon Oberon, while Eddie and Milo become Dr. Smolder Bravestone and Franklin "Mouse" Finbar. Expecting the same gameplay, the group is surprised by a new plot: Jumanji is suffering from a drought. To end the game, they must recover a magical necklace called the Falcon Jewel, stolen by warlord Jurgen the Brutal. After escaping a stampede of ostriches, they meet up with Spencer at a bazaar, who also has a new avatar: a skilled female thief called Ming Fleetfoot.
The group struggles adjusting to their avatars and have trouble with Milo not being able to relay information quickly, and Eddie's volatile carelessness costing them several lives. They reunite with Alex as his avatar Jefferson "Seaplane" McDonough, along with Bethany, who has become a black stallion named Cyclone. Eddie learns that Milo is terminally ill and wants to make amends before he dies, which leads them to reconcile.
The group finds a river with magical water that allows them to switch avatars. This lets each of them return to their original avatars while Eddie and Milo are given Ming and Cyclone, respectively. When Eddie and Milo are captured by Jurgen's soldiers, the friends split up to rescue their teammates and get the Falcon Heart. They fight off Jurgen and his men and steal back the gem. Cyclone, who turns into a winged horse, flies up to the sky with Eddie, who shows the necklace to the sky, so the sunlight touches it as instructed, yelling Jumanji's name, and therefore completing the game.
Milo, who appreciates his new, flying form, opts to stay in the game. The rest return to the real world, and Spencer reconciles with his friends.
In a mid-credits, Spencer's mother brings a repairman into the house, who sees the broken video game console and inadvertently triggers the game. Simultaneously, a herd of ostriches appears outside Nora's restaurant, and Spencer and the others are surprised to see creatures from the world of Jumanji loose in the real world.
Cast
Awkwafina, Jack Black and Karen Gillan promoting the film Danny DeVito joins the Jumanji film series as Spencer’s grandfather, Eddie Gilpin.
Johnson also portrays Bravestone's father in a flashback, with Zachary Tzegaegbe portraying the young Bravestone
Jack Black as Professor Sheldon "Shelly" Oberon: A player character and Fridge's new avatar. Martha briefly controls the avatar, and he later once again becomes Bethany's. Professor Oberon takes the form of an overweight, male expert in many scientific fields including cartography and geometry who now has the weakness of sun, sand, and heat.
Kevin Hart as Franklin "Mouse" Finbar: A player character, Milo's avatar initially, who later becomes Fridge's avatar once again. Finbar takes the form of a diminutive zoologist and weapons carrier with some talent in animal linguistics as a new ability.
Karen Gillan as Ruby Roundhouse: A player character and Martha's avatar, who takes the form of a scantily-clad commando who knows martial arts and gains a mastery over nunchuks as a new ability. She is briefly controlled by Fridge.
Awkwafina as Ming Fleetfoot: A new Jumanji player character and Spencer's new avatar, who later becomes Eddie's avatar. Fleetfoot takes the form of a thief with skills in burglary, pickpocketing, and lock picking as well as a weakness to pollen.
Rory McCann as Jurgen the Brutal, a violent Jumanjian warlord who is responsible for the murders of Bravestone's parents
Danny DeVito as Edward "Eddie" Gilpin: Spencer's grandfather, who resents Milo for selling the diner they co-owned.
Danny Glover as Milo Walker: Eddie's estranged friend, whose falling out resulted from him selling their diner.
Alex Wolff as Spencer Gilpin: A new college student struggling to adjust to his new life and Martha's boyfriend.
Morgan Turner as Martha Kaply: A new college student and Spencer's girlfriend.
Ser'Darius Blain as Anthony "Fridge" Johnson: A new college student and friend of Spencer, Martha, and Bethany.
Madison Iseman as Bethany Walker: A new college student, one of the four friends who experienced the previous Jumanji, now a travel influencer.
Rhys Darby as Nigel Billingsley: An NPC who serves as the primary guide for its players.
Colin Hanks as Alex Vreeke: A previous Jumanji player, now raising a family.
Marin Hinkle as Janice Gilpin: Spencer's mother and Eddie's daughter.
Bebe Neuwirth reprises her role as Nora Shepherd, aunt of the first film's protagonists Peter and Judy Shepherd who attempted to turn the Parrish House into a bed and breakfast.[5]
Also featured as NPCs in Jumanji are Jennifer Patino as Bravestone's mother, Massi Furlan as crime boss Switchblade who is a weakness to Bravestone, Dania Ramirez as Switchblade's seductive wife, John Ross Bowie as Jurgen's butler Cavendish, and DeObia Oparei as an elevator guard. Danny DeVito's daughter Lucy also portrays the NPC of a maiden and Lamorne Morris plays the heater repairman.[5]
Production
Following the release of Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, Sony began developing the sequel. Kasdan returned to direct the sequel, with Rosenberg and Pinkner again writing the script and Johnson, Hart, Black, and Gillan reprising their roles.[6] 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.[7] According to Kasdan the film used the working title J-19.[5] The film's title was revealed as Jumanji: The Next Level.[8]
The film was released in the United States on December 13, 2019.[citation needed] The film was released on digital by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment on March 3, 2020, and was released on 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray, and DVD on March 17.[20][21][22] In April 2021, Sony signed a deal giving Disney access to their legacy content, including the Jumanji franchise to stream on Disney+ and Hulu and appear on Disney's linear television networks. Disney's access to Sony's titles would come following their availability on Netflix.[23][24]
Reception
Box office
Jumanji: The Next Level grossed $320.3 million in the United States and Canada, and $479.7 million in other countries, for a worldwide total of $800.1 million, against a production budget of about $125–132 million.[3][4] It was the tenth-highest-grossing film of 2019.[25]Deadline Hollywood calculated that the net profit of the film was $236million.[26]
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 $19.7 million on its first day, including $4.7 million from Thursday night previews. It went on to debut to $59.3 million, topping the box office.[4][28][29] It made $26.5 million in its second weekend, finishing second behind Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.[30] The following weekend the film made $35.3 million (a total of $59.2 million over the five-day Christmas period), then $26.5 million the next, remaining in second behind The Rise of Skywalker both times.[31][32] After the COVID-19 pandemic closed most theaters across the U.S. and Canada in March, the film continued to play at drive-ins during the following weeks; it made $217,800 in its 24th weekend and $186,800 in its 25th weekend.[33] The film passed the $800 million mark worldwide on July 7, 2020, thanks to drive-in grosses in the U.S. and theaters re-opening in other countries.[34]
Critical response
On Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 72% based on 248 reviews, with an average rating of 6.1/10. 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."[35] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 58 out of 100 based on 37 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[36] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale, while those at PostTrak gave it an average 3.5 out of 5 stars, with 58% saying they would definitely recommend it.[4]
Peter Debruge of Variety wrote: "More often than not, effects-driven blockbusters get dumber as the series goes along, but Jumanji: The Next Level invents some fun ideas to keep things fresh." Debruge calls Johnson's Danny DeVito impression "unintentionally hilarious", and is mildly critical of some of the off color jokes, but concludes: "The storytelling may be sloppy in parts, but the cast's collective charisma more than compensates."[37]Peter Travers of Rolling Stone is positive about the remixing of the characters having "major comedy benefits" and Travers welcomes the introduction of Awkwafina. He found the plot difficult to follow and not worth the effort, but says "what matters are the laughs and the FX".[38]Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian wrote: "What gives Jumanji its likability is that it has the emphases and comedy beats of an animation, but also the performance technique of live action – and the occasional reshuffling of avatars and players lets the actors show off a little bit further. Jumanji's next level is rather satisfying."[39]
Dwayne Johnson revealed in an interview that the villain Jurgen the Brutal is actually an avatar of an unknown character, and would be explored in a potential sequel.[47] In March 2020, Jake Kasdan confirmed early developments for a follow-up film.[48][49] Kasdan confirmed plans to maintain the core cast of the previous two films.[50] The following month, the filmmaker stated that the story for the next installment was in development.[5] It later was reported that the follow-up film was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[51]
In November 2021, producer Hiram Garcia confirmed that a pitch was developed and is ready to be presented to the studio after Kasdan finished his work on Red One (2024).[52] The following month he reiterated plans to develop the next Jumanji, once filming on Red One wrapped, stating that this timetable works with the actors' busy production schedules.[53] In March 2023, Kevin Hart indicated that it would be the final film in the series.[54] In October 2024, Sony scheduled the next film in the series for release on December 11, 2026.[55]
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