Entertainment

The Rock Channels Danny DeVito In The First Trailer For 'Jumanji: The Next Level'

by Dylan Kickham
Sony Pictures

It is almost time to head back into the jungle world of Jumanji for the third time, and while the characters in the upcoming third movie in the series may look the same as before on the outside, they are actually playing completely different characters this time around. The 2017 rebooted sequel of Jumanji reimagined the iconic board game as a video game, and in the upcoming follow-up, the video game avatars get switched up in even more unbelievable ways. The first Jumanji: The Next Level trailer introduces Danny DeVito and Danny Glover to the franchise, and presents a hilarious new acting challenge for Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, Kevin Hart, and Jack Black.

The new movie picks up some time after the events of 2017's Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, and the new trailer reveals that Spencer (Alex Wolff) has secretly been working to repair the video game that the group destroyed at the end of the last movie. When his friends stop by to check in on Spencer, they discover that he has been sucked into the game again, and go back into the virtual world after him... except something goes wrong. Not only do the kids not get to select their avatars like last time, but Spencer's grandpa Eddie (Danny DeVito) and Eddie's friend Milo (Danny Glover) unwittingly get sucked into the game as well.

The result is a hilarious mishmash of who ends up in which avatar character. In the 2017 film, Dwayne Johnson had to play the anxious teenager Alex, but this time around he puts on a New Jersey accent to channel Danny DeVito's character of Eddie. Similarly, Kevin Hart now finds himself embodying Danny Glover's character Milo, and Jack Black makes a big jump from playing the superficial popular girl Bethany to playing the star jock Fridge. The only character and avatar combo that remains the same is Karen Gillan once again portraying shy student Martha. Check out the full trailer below:

The new trailer includes some epic-looking new scenes in the jungle and introduces some hilarious new characters, but also leaves fans with a fair bit of mystery. The clip does not reveal what Spencer's new avatar is after being sucked into the game this time, nor does it show who Bethany ended up transforming into. There does seem to be two prime candidates for their new avatars, though.

The trailer briefly shows Nick Jonas returning as his airplane pilot avatar and Awkwafina in her undisclosed new role, with both characters in a snowy area. Since the character who inhabited Jonas' avatar made it out of the game at the end of Welcome to the Jungle, the avatar's return makes it seem likely that Spencer will find himself as that character and Bethany could possibly be playing as Awkwafina's character. We will not know for sure until more trailers come out, though.

Jumanji: The Next Level is scheduled to be released in theaters during the upcoming holiday season, on Friday, Dec. 13.