Sony Pictures released the first trailer Tuesday for “Jumanji: Open World,” the third installment in the studio’s modern reboot of the franchise, revealing a Christmas Day release and a twist on the series’ core conceit. Rather than players getting pulled into the game, as in the previous two films, Jumanji itself breaks out into ordinary life this time, unleashing its creatures and chaos onto the real world.
The trailer picks up where 2019’s “Jumanji: The Next Level” left off, when the game’s monsters first slipped beyond its boundaries. Now the game’s four avatars, played by Dwayne Johnson, Jack Black, Kevin Hart and Karen Gillan, arrive on Earth as well, though without players controlling them, they move through the world stuck in what one character calls “demo mode.” Alex Wolff, reprising his role as Spencer, sums up the predicament for the group: “We have a problem. They’re video game characters, but they’re stuck in demo mode.” When Spencer’s mother, played by Marin Hinkle, gets pulled into the game herself, Spencer has to go in after her, inverting the trap that defined the franchise’s earlier films.
Jake Kasdan directs for a third time, working from a script he co-wrote with Jeff Pinkner and Scott Rosenberg. The returning ensemble includes Morgan Turner, Ser’Darius Blain, Madison Iseman, Nick Jonas, Awkwafina, Rhys Darby and Danny DeVito. Johnson, Kasdan, Matt Tolmach, Dany Garcia and Hiram Garcia produce.
Sony has marketed the film as the trilogy’s conclusion, with the tagline “One. Last. Game.” Johnson posted the trailer to his own social accounts Tuesday, framing it the same way, and the response from fans was immediate: his post drew tens of thousands of likes within half an hour, with many commenters expressing excitement mixed with reluctance to see the series end.
The franchise has proven durable at the box office since Kasdan relaunched it from Robin Williams’ 1995 original. “Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle” grossed more than $950 million worldwide in 2017, and “The Next Level” followed with over $801 million two years later. Sony scheduled “Open World” for Dec. 25 specifically to sidestep direct competition with “Avengers: Doomsday” and “Dune: Part Three,” both expected to dominate multiplexes elsewhere on the late-2026 calendar. At CinemaCon earlier this year, Black told the crowd unveiling early footage that the threequel was his favorite installment to make.
