“Jumanji” fans will have to wait a little longer to get back in the game. Sony’s Columbia Pictures shifted the release date for the Dwayne Johnson and Kevin Hart-led threequel to Christmas Day, two weeks after its scheduled Dec. 11 debut.
The move strategically shifts “Jumanji 3” to hit theaters after the launches of “Dune: Part Three” and “Avengers: Doomsday” on Dec. 18 — a box office collision colloquially called “Dunesday.”
The Christmas corridor has historically been the release window for family-friendly “Jumanji” movies, going back to the 1995 action-adventure comedy starring Robin Williams, which opened on Dec. 15 that year. The first installment of the new “Jumanji” franchise, 2017’s “Welcome to the Jungle,” launched on December 20 and became a box office smash; the movie earned over $960 million worldwide to become the fifth-highest-grossing film of the year. The sequel, 2019’s “Jumanji: The Next Level,” also brought in a massive haul, grossing over $800 million worldwide.
The “Jumanji” reboot series — which follows a group of teenagers who find themselves trapped inside a video game — stars Johnson, Hart, Jack Black and Karen Gillan. Danny DeVito, Nick Jonas, Marin Hinkle, Bebe Neuwirth, Lamorne Morris and Rhys Darby also return for the next installment, with Dan Hildebrand and Jack Jewkes joining as new cast members.
Jake Kasdan helmed the first two installments of the big-budget series and returns to direct the third film from a screenplay he co-wrote with Jeff Pinkner and Scott Rosenberg. Matt Tolmach, Johnson, Dany Garcia, Hiram Garcia and Kasdan produced the movie.