Dwayne Johnson’s Jumanji: The Next Level is the fourth most-watched movie on Netflix.
Dwayne Johnson famously once referred to himself as “franchise Viagra,” claiming that he was brought into a series to revitalize it when popularity had begun to wane. Although that appears to be not all that accurate when it comes to the DC Universe, it certainly did the job for the Jumanji franchise. The second movie in the wildly popular Dwayne Johnson-led reboot, Jumanji: The Next Level, is currently the number four most-watched movie on Netflix, which is pretty impressive for a franchise that started back with a single children’s book.
Dwayne Johnson, Karen Gillan, Kevin Hart, and Jack Black all return as character avatars in the in-game jungle of Jumanji: The Next Level, bringing the main cast from the 2017 reboot back. Alex Wolff, Morgan Turner, Ser’Darius Blain, and Madison Iseman all make a comeback as teenagers who managed to win the game the last time but are now drawn back in to it in the real world. This time, Danny DeVito and Danny Glover, who played grandparents and estranged business partners in the first film, manage to end up in the game. They play characters from the first film, creating confusion about who is who as they become involved in a new video game-style mission.
One of Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle’s most intriguing elements was the notion that the game had changed from the board game featured in the 1995 Robin Williams movie to a video gaming system. The idea that character avatars, like Dwayne Johnson’s Dr. Xander “Smolder” Bravestone, aren’t tied to a particular person is also fairly entertaining, even though The Next Level does not make as much of a conceptual leap this time around. Imagine if your favorite Mortal Kombat character was chosen, and you are now forced to learn how to use Reptile until you get it right.
Jumanji: The Next Level was an enormous success at the box office, grossing over $800 million at the box office against a $125 million budget. While it did not reach the heights of Welcome to the Jungle’s $962 million, it was still more than enough to guarantee another sequel, which is scheduled to arrive sometime in 2023. Not only that, but it appears the forgotten 2005 film Zathura: A Space Adventure is being folded into the franchise and developed as another Dwayne Johnson property.
This makes sense, considering that Jumanji and Zathura were both adapted from books by Chris Van Allsburg, the latter of which even included a number of references to its jungle-set sister volume. At this point, it seems that Dwayne Johnson may have found himself in unfamiliar territory, needing to latch onto a strong franchise more than one needs him. Although all signs indicated he was being positioned as the new center of Warner Bros. Discovery’s DC Universe, he appears to have been de facto ousted by new management and needs a new gig
That’s exaggerating things, of course. Dwayne Johnson is one of the biggest and busiest stars in the world and could sign up for a dozen films guaranteed to make an easy nine digits at the box office any day of the week. We’re going to guess he’s going to stick with Jumanji for a while, all the same.
Soucre: giantfreakinrobot.com
