‘Jumanji 2’: How The ‘Welcome To The Jungle’ Sequel Will Pay Tribute To The Late Robin Williams Revealed


Jumanji 2, called Welcome to the Jungle, finally revealed on Monday how the film would pay tribute to the late Robin Williams. As previously reported by the Inquisitr in May of 2016, Jumanji 2 promised to honor Robin Williams, the star of the 1995 film Jumanji. However, details of how the Jumanji reboot planned to pay tribute to Robin Williams was unknown until Jumanji 2 star Jack Black revealed in an interview how the late star “won’t be forgotten.”

Another Jumanji 2 star Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson confirmed the Jumanji sequel back in August of 2016, as also previously reported by the Inquisitr. In an Instagram post, Johnson said that Jumanji 2 would not exactly be a reboot of the original 1995 but a “continuation of the awesome Jumanji story.” Jack Black pretty much confirmed that in a recent interview with the Hollywood Reporter. Black, who will play the character Professor Shelly Oberon in Jumanji 2, said in the interview that the late Robin Williams actually played a role in the new film.

According to the 47-year-old actor, Jumanji 2 is set inside the world where Robin Williams’ Jumanji character Alan Parrish lived for nearly 30 years. In the original Jumanji film, a young Alan Parrish became trapped inside a board game in 1969 and then resurfaced in 1995 — 26 years later. Jumanji finished playing the game that Parrish started in 1969 with his best friend Sarah Whittle, played by actress Bonnie Hunt. Finishing the game actually reversed the damage done by Jumanji in the film’s fictional town of Brantford, New Hampshire.

How do Jumanji 2 stars — Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart, Jack Black, and Karen Gillan — get sucked back into Jumanji? MovieWeb explained back in March that four teenagers find a cursed video game version of Jumanji in their high school basement and get sucked into the Jumanji jungle as adult avatars, hence the sequel’s name, Welcome to the Jungle. Jack Black revealed to the Hollywood Reporter that Jumanji 2 explores the jungle where Robin Williams’ character spent those 26 years. Black goes on to say that Jumanji 2 characters use clues left behind by Williams’ Jumanji character to try to “conquer” the game.

The Jumanji 2 characters use clues left behind by Robin Williams’ Jumanji character, which Jack Black says is like Robin Williams being “there helping us without actually being there.” Digital Spy shared that Jumanji 2 will pay tribute to the late Robin Williams by “touching upon his character.” Slash Film said that using clues left behind by Alan Parrish to lead Jumanji 2 characters out of the jungle is a “fitting tribute” to the Alan Parrish character and the beloved late Jumanji star Robin Williams, who committed suicide in August of 2014 at the age of 63, due to a dementia diagnosis, according to an article written by Williams’ wife, Susan Schneider Williams, and published in Neurology.

The follow-up to Jumanji, called Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, is set to be released by Sony Pictures Entertainment on December 22 in theaters in the U.S., according to IGN. Almost exactly 22 years after the release of the original Jumanji film on December 15, 1995, Jumanji 2 will “come as a welcome surprise” to original Jumanji fans, who consider Robin Williams’ character to be the “main highlight” of the film, according to Screen Rant. Jumanji 2 director Jake Kasdan said that he was a fan of the original Jumanji film and that Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle sequel really honors it.

[Featured Image by Ethan Miller/Getty Images]

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