The “Jumanji: Open World” Trailer Is Hilarious!

I wasn’t really into watching the upcoming Jumanji: Open World live-action movie, but having seen the official trailer, I am so in!

With Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (2017) taking the main cast of human teens into a digital version of Jumanji and Jumanji: The Next Level (2019) adding even more human characters to the narrative, along with exploring Spencer’s emotional turmoil, it made sense for Jumanji to finally come to the real world, harkening back to what occured during the original Jumanji movie back in 1995. And due to the plot of the latest installment sounding quite predictable, I was kind of over having to sit through another entry to the long-running Jumanji film series starring Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart, Jack Black, Karen Gillan, and more.

However, as I mentioned at the very beginning of this piece, having watched the newly released official trailer for Jumanji: Open World, I’m actually looking forward to seeing what director and co-writer Jake Kasdan has in store for fans.

As the name states, the videogame environment of Jumanji will begin spilling into the real world in the latest action-adventure flick. The trailer shows the OG cast of young human friends having to address the Jumanji-related shenanigans again, but this time around, even more human cast members will get to play and survive.

Before I begin sharing my opinions about the trailer, you should watch it for yourself so as not to be spoiled by what I have to say.

So, yeah, Spencer (Alex Wolff) and his friends are asked to come to “Nora’s” by Spencer’s grandfather, Eddie (Danny DeVito). Why? Well, it turns out that one of the people inside the 24-hour diner is none other than Dr. Xander “Smolder” Bravestone (Johnson). And of course, Franklin “Mouse” Finbar (Hart), Ruby Roundhouse (Gillan), and Professor Sheldon “Shelly” Oberon (Black) also appear.

The playable video game characters having unexpected accents and personalities pleasantly surprised me. Turns out, they are stuck in “Demo Mode” in the real world, complete with sticking to the script of being the heroes in Jumanji.

Along with them, the animals and other bad people from Jumanji have also entered reality, causing chaos. And as Spencer says, the only way to stop what is happening is to get the main playable characters back into the game.

Sticking with the Jumanji reboot formula, Spencer operates inside the video game via Ruby’s body. New kid character Tyson (Jack Jewkes) will play as Mouse. New adult character Donatas (Dan Hildebrand) is Shelly. And Spencer’s mother Janice (Marin Hinkle) is… you guessed it… Bravestone. Ha!

Seeing Johnson play a woman stuck in the body of a video game character that looks like Johnson… I am sold! Johnson as Janice inside Bravestone’s body looks hilarious from the trailer.

With Spencer, Janice, Tyson, and Donatas handling things inside the game, the rest of the crew (it’s safe to assume) will be handling things in the real world.

Co-written by Kasdan, Jeff Pinkner, and Scott Rosenberg, Jumanji: Open World will hit theatres on December 25, 2026. And I do plan to watch it.

How about you?

Author: Farid-ul-Haq

Farid has a Double Masters in Psychology and Biotechnology as well as an M.Phil in Molecular Genetics. He is the author of numerous books including Missing in Somerville, and The Game Master of Somerville. He gives us insight into comics, books, TV shows, anime/manga, video games, and movies.

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