Hiram Garcia, producer on Jumanji 4, has spoken about work on the upcoming sequel and their efforts to “knock it out of the park”. President of Production for Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s company Seven Bucks Productions, Garcia has recently celebrated the release of Johnson’s Jungle Cruise for Disney and is busy at work on a massive production schedule which includes Johnson’s DCEU debut as Black Adam. Johnson first founded his production company in 2017, with its first film being Paramount’s Baywatch reboot, and it currently has well over 20 different projects in various stages of development, including a sequel to 1986’s classic Big Trouble in Little China.
Directed by Jabob Kasdan, both 2017’s Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle and 2019’s Jumanji: The Next Level are direct sequels to the original 1995 film which famously starred the late Robin Williams. Set 21 years after the events of the first film, the most recent Jumanji outings saw the mystical board game transformed into a video game that traps a group of teenagers into the game’s avatars played by Johnson, Kevin Hart, Jack Black and Karen Gillan. In the third film, Awkwafina joined the cast as a new avatar, alongside screen veterans Danny Glover and Danny DeVito.
In late 2019, Johnson hinted at a potential Jumanji 4, and those plans were confirmed by Kasdan in March last year. More recently, Johnson’s producing partner Garcia has spoken with Collider and suggested that they are currently working hard on the next film, ensuring that they get it right. Check out what he had to say below:
"We’re very focused on delivering the best version of that story. Obviously when you’re fortunate enough to bring a team back together for the third time you want to knock it out of the park. It’s important for us to deliver something big for the fans while still expanding on our Jumanji story. So we are drilling down deep and collaborating closely with our writers, director Jake [Kasdan] and producing partner on this Matt [Tolmach]."
While Garcia’s update is good news for Jumanji fans, the big question will be whether or not Johnson and his team will be able to lure Jack Black for another outing. In late 2019, Black famously announced that Jumanji: The Next Level would possibly be his last film, saying that he is “kind of enjoying the idea of early retirement”. That announcement aside, however, Black has been confirmed to be providing the voice of Claptrap for the upcoming Borderlands film adaptation, so perhaps those retirement plans have not yet swung into full effect.
Whether or not Black returns, both Gillan and Hart have announced they are both keen to see the films continue and are likely to return for their third outings. The big hurdle, however, will be wrangling a shooting schedule together which suits each star’s own enormously busy plans, as not only is Johnson heavily tied up in several other projects, but Gillan is also set to return as Nebula for Guardian of the Galaxy Vol. 3. In the meantime, Jumanji fans will be eagerly awaiting any further news about when production may officially kick-off.
Source: Collider