We’re going back to the jungle. The next Jumanji movie is officially in production — but, as it turns out, it also will be the last sequel in the series.
"New level unlocked. Jumanji Movie is officially in production,” the film’s official Twitter account shared on Tuesday, November 12. The account also shared a black and white image of the franchise’s lead cast members — Jack Black, Dwayne Johnson, Karen Gillian, and Kevin Hart — sitting and laughing together at a table read.
Johnson went on to confirm the film was in production via his Instagram, where he revealed that the next film in the series will be the last.
“Officially kicking off production of JUMANJI, at our cast table read in Los Angeles - where we will film as well. What a massive, fun, heartfelt adventure,” he wrote in his post, which included two videos and several images from the table read. “Feels emotionally appropriate for our beloved JUMANJI franchise to end on this beautiful grace note of our final film.”
He added: “Amazing to get the whole gang back together, and our jaws were hurting from laughing so hard. We all talked about how much we’ve missed this kinda joy and fun. Let’s make a good one.”
The actor, who is known as The Rock from his professional wrestling days, also included a close-up image from the original 1995 film’s poster, highlighting the dice thrown to advance in the board game in that film. After that, he also shared an image of a necklace with a dice pendant.
“The significance of the [dice] in the last picture, is a little Easter egg that my character, Dr. Smolder Bravestone wears on a necklace in our final film,” Johnson explained in his caption. “It’s the dice from the original 1995 JUMANJI and a way of paying homage, love and respect to the great Robin Williams.”
Considering this specific inclusion, there’s definitely a possibility that this last film will tie back to the original film in some major way. Maybe the original board game — which has been absent from the two installments following the original, Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle and Jumanji: Next Level, in favor of a video game element — will return for one final hurrah. And let’s be real, that’s not impossible. At the end of the original film, the board game ended up buried somewhere in a foreign desert, so it’s certainly an option should the filmmakers want to explore it.
Jumanji 3 will be released in theaters on December 11, 2026.
Lex Briscuso is a film and television critic and a freelance entertainment writer for IGN. You can follow her on Twitter at @nikonamerica.
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