Jumanji: Open World trailer sends avatars into the real world
The Jumanji: Open World trailer brings Dwayne Johnson, Jack Black, Kevin Hart and Karen Gillan back for a Dec. 11, 2026 release.
By Georgia Hale · Staff Writer
3 min read
The Jumanji: Open World trailer has arrived, and this time the game is crashing into everyday life instead of swallowing players whole.
Deadline reports that the third film in Sony’s modern Jumanji run is set to reach theaters on Dec. 11, 2026. A version of footage from the movie was shown earlier in April at CinemaCon in Las Vegas, though the public trailer begins differently.
The new clip brings Spencer, played by Alex Wolff, and his friends to Nora’s. There, Spencer’s grandfather, played by Danny DeVito, points toward the unmistakable return of Dr. Smolder Bravestone, the avatar played by Dwayne Johnson.
The trailer then brings back the familiar video game avatar lineup: Jack Black as Professor Shelly Oberon, Karen Gillan as Ruby and Kevin Hart as Franklin “Mouse” Finbar. According to Deadline’s description of the trailer, the Jumanji video game has spilled into the real world, with the main four avatars trapped in “demo mode.”
That setup gives Bravestone a new wrinkle in the footage: he speaks with a Spanish accent. Black’s avatar also voices the obvious problem in the clip, saying, “I’m beginning to suspect that we’re not in Jumanji.”
What happens in the Jumanji: Open World trailer?
The trailer shows the game’s avatars loose outside their usual digital jungle, where real-world streets and homes appear to become part of Jumanji’s chaos. The footage is set to Europe’s “The Final Countdown” and includes ostriches, rhinoceroses, lizards, oxen and other creatures causing trouble.
Brittany O’Grady is also visible in the trailer, Deadline reports. The film’s cast includes Rhys Darby and Nick Jonas as well.
Jake Kasdan returns to direct the sequel. The producing team listed by Deadline includes Matt Tolmach, Johnson, Dany Garcia, Hiram Garcia and Kasdan, with Jeff Pinkner and Scott Rosenberg credited as screenwriters.
How does this connect to the earlier Jumanji movies?
Jumanji: Open World is the third film in Sony’s rebooted take on the property, which reworked the story around teenagers drawn into a video game. Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle arrived in 2017, followed by Jumanji: The Next Level in 2019.
Both earlier Sony films starred Johnson, Hart, Black and Gillan as the in-game avatars. Wolff, Madison Iseman, Morgan Turner and Ser’Darius Blain played the teens connected to those characters in the real world.
Deadline reports that the CinemaCon footage opened with a computer repairman, played by Lamorne Morris, visiting the home of Janice, played by Marin Hinkle. In that footage, the repairman found an old video game console before storm clouds gathered outside a house and ostriches charged through real-world streets.
The wider Jumanji story began with Chris Van Allsburg’s children’s book. Joe Johnston directed the 1995 film version, which starred Robin Williams, Kirsten Dunst and Bonnie Hunt and centered on a supernatural board game unleashing jungle dangers into the real world.
The rebooted series has been a major box office draw, according to Deadline. Welcome to the Jungle earned more than $962 million worldwide, while The Next Level made more than $801 million globally.
Dunst, one of the stars of the 1995 film, is also set to appear with current Jumanji star Black in the second Minecraft movie, titled Minecraft: Squared, Deadline reports.
This story draws on original reporting from Deadline.