Fresh off his Oscar-buzzed performance in Benny Safdie’s The Smashing Machine, it looks like Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson will soon be heading back to the jungle, as the star confirms that Jumanji 3 is set to start filming very soon.
In an interview with Variety, the star revealed that Jumanji 3 will start shooting in November 2025, and it will see Johnson reunite with long-time collaborator Kevin Hart.
This comes not long after Johnson admitted that he feels “pigeon-holed” in Hollywood, and that going forward, he wants to focus more on grittier projects like his recent sports biopic rather than his usual blockbusters. However, it sounds as though he will remain loyal to his franchises, as Johnson added, “The films that I made in the past, I love them… I’ll go back to making them again.”
Johnson first took on the role of Dr. Xander ‘Smolder’ Bravestone in the 2017 movie Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, followed by its sequel, Jumanji: The Next Level, which hit screens in 2019. The movies star Johnson, Hart, Karen Gillan, and Jack Black as four in-game characters controlled by outside players who get sucked into the game and into the avatars’ bodies. However, the road to Jumanji 3, or Jumanji 4 if you count the Robin Williams-led original, has not been so smooth.
From delays to complications brought on by COVID-19, the upcoming Jumanji movie has seen its fair share of setbacks. After the pandemic, work on the sequel seemed to start up again in 2021. But then it was once again radio silence until 2024, when Sony confirmed that the movie was still happening and locked in a late 2026 release date.
It is not clear what kind of premise Jumanji 3 will follow, or who exactly will return alongside the core four. But, during Jumanji: The Next Level’s post-credits scene, we saw a bunch of animals from the game escaping into the real world, so it looks like the team has their work cut out for them this time. Who knows, Dr. Smoulder, Mouse, Ruby Roundhouse, and Dr. Shelley may even appear in the real world.
Jumanji 3 will release in theaters on December 11, 2026. For more, check out our list of the best fantasy movies and the biggest movie release dates.
