(SeaPRwire) – An April 7, 2024, Saturday Night Live sketch featured host Kristen Wiig as a woman with an unusual phobia of board games. She is specifically afraid of “getting Jumanjied”—being pulled into a board game. However, her friend, played by Andrew Dismukes, corrects her assumption. He points out that in the original Jumanji, only one person is drawn into the game, while the main plot involves the game’s elements escaping out into the real world.
A different partygoer expresses confusion, having believed the film was about people being sucked into a video game. She is informed that this describes the newer Jumanji movies, not the classic version. Her understanding may be partially justified, as the upcoming installment in the rebooted series is set to feature Jumanji emerging out of the game.
During its CinemaCon presentation, Sony concluded by announcing the third film in the current Jumanji series, which replaced the original 1995 film’s board game with a video game concept. Dwayne Johnson and Kevin Hart revealed the title of the new movie as Jumanji: Open World.
A trailer screened for attendees showed the teenage protagonist, played by Alex Wolff, discovering that the avatars from the Jumanji video game have been transported into our world. However, these characters are not being controlled by players but are trapped in a “demo mode,” altering their usual behavior; for instance, Johnson’s Dr. Bravestone now speaks with a Spanish accent.
Hart explained during the presentation that the standard “game rules” of Jumanji are not consistently followed in Open World, and audiences will see three distinct variations of the avatars. For strict fans of the franchise’s lore, the storyline will not be solely about Jumanji leaking into reality, as the original group of players will also re-enter the game. The film will nonetheless include nods to the original movie, featuring a lengthy tribute to the late star Robin Williams.
Despite the balance between the game and the real world, this shift is a positive development for the series. The Jumanji universe can only support adventures reminiscent of Ready Player One for a limited time before they become stale. A key pleasure of the first film was witnessing lions, rhinos, and hunters causing chaos in a modern setting. Adapting that concept for a 2026 release may be one of Open World’s most compelling aspects, even if it adds to the confusion for actual board game enthusiasts.
Jumanji: Open World premieres in theaters on December 25, 2026.
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