On August 5, 2015, there was a great disturbance on the Internet, as if millions of millennial voices suddenly cried out in fury, and were suddenly silenced…by Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.
The drama started back when Sony Pictures Entertainment announced a reboot of the Jumanji franchise for release on December 25, 2016. The Internet’s collective response to the announcement was easily summed up in a single meme.
’nuff said
The ensuing explosion of complaints and criticism was fueled by 90’s kids who, in addition to having grown up watching the original 1995 film, felt that the news rolled out too soon after the loss of the late Robin Williams.
Accusations ranged from lack of originality in Hollywood, to tampering with the sacred, to the occasional mention of the word “blasphemy.” And then The Rock came along, and this happened:
Joined by Jack Black, Kevin Hart and Nick Jonas, The Rock is set to lead the upcoming Jumanji film, with a new release date of July 28, 2017 and directed by Jake Kasdan. But the real news is in the quote below.
“And now in two weeks I’ll reunite with ol’ friends Kevin Hart & Jack Black and we have the honor to introduce a whole new generation to the amazing world of #JUMANJI. *(for the record we are NOT making a reboot, but rather a continuation of the awesome JUMANJI story). It’s also crazy to me how much me, Kev and Jack look like triplets when we’re together… Man this is gonna be FUN.”
As he was stepping off the set of the Fast 8 production (or was it called Furious 8? or Fast and Furious 8? or THE Fast and THE Furious 8? has anyone kept track?) Dwayne Johnson confirmed all of our (semi) hopes. The new Jumanji film is not a reboot, or remake, or reimagining…or requel…but a sequel to the original 1995 film.
The reception toward this latest revelation has been slightly warmer, and excitement for the film is slowly building from here. Johnson also spoke about respecting the legacy of Robin Williams.
“An important thing that I want to be honest and bring up is Robin Williams. The love and respect I have for this man is boundless. You have my word, we will honor his name and the character of “Alan Parrish” will stand alone and be forever immortalized in the world of Jumanji in an earnest and cool way. I have an idea of what to do and I think his family will be proud. I also think Robin is somewhere lookin’ down and laughing, remembering the first time we met backstage and I (for the first time ever) was a star struck bumbling idiot that couldn’t even get my words out. Idiot. He literally calmed me down w/ that smile and laugh. But that’s for another fun story down the road.”
When the news was originally announced last year, I considered myself to be among those nostalgically disgruntled proclaimers of movie-making injustice. I always felt that Robin Williams brought a perfect combination of hilarity and emotion to all of his comedies, in a way that has remained unmatched to this day. Trying to step into his shoes would be like trying to recapture lightning in a bottle.
But when I stopped to think about it a little further, I remembered that the original book Jumanji by Chris Van Allsburg (who also wrote Zathura and The Polar Express) was a much simpler read than the film suggests. Alan Parrish, the character played by Williams, was not featured in the book to begin with. The book only focused on the younger members of the cast, Peter and Judy, played by Kirsten Dunst and Bradley Pierce. A sequel, or even a reimagining, would be able to go in an entirely different direction.
I would dare say that the idea of a nightmarish game that brings a full-on jungle to your doorstep is interesting enough to have a franchise made out of it, and the current generation of kids deserve to grow up with their own Jumanji movie like we did. Plus, we will always have access to our own version readily available, just in case.
What say you? do you believe the combination of The Rock, Jack Black, Kevin Hart and Nick Jonas combined can make this sequel as memorable as its predecessor? or do you believe that the sequel will sink faster than Alan Parrish in wood-board quicksand with outdated CGI?
I can’t help wondering if the sequel has always been planned as such, or if the latest fiasco regarding the Ghostbusters reboot (a drama for another time) may have caused the studio to think twice about their decision.
As mentioned before, the Jumanji sequel premieres December 20, 2017, and is currently still in the casting process. Whether you decide to hold your breath for this one or not, I’ll leave that up to you.
Written by Michael Gonzalez .