'Jumanji: The Video Game' To Launch Ahead Of 'Welcome To The Jungle' Sequel

Jumanji fans can now experience for themselves the epic adventure of Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle — though hopefully without the whole "being sucked into the game" quirk. Jumanji: The Video Game will take players swinging through the jungle in search for the Jewels of Jumanji ahead of the upcoming release of the yet-untitled Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle movie sequel.

Sony Pictures is teaming up with video game developer Bandai Namco Entertainment Europe, Outright Games and U.K.-based studio Funsolve to create a new game set in the Jumanji film franchise, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Jumanji: The Video Game, built and run on Epic Games' Unreal Engine 4, will launch on November 15, 2019, just under a month before the sequel to Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle hits theaters on December 13.

"This is a dream come true for our studio," said Funsolve founder and director Richard Tawn. "Adapting the exotic, dangerous and hilarious world of Jumanji into a video game has pushed us to create something truly special."

This is what the game will entail, per THR:

As in the latest film, players will control one of four explorers — Dr. Smolder Bravestone, Ruby Roundhouse, Franklin "Mouse" Finbar or Professor Shelly Oberon — as they search for the Jewels of Jumanji in a dangerous wilderness full of exotic creatures and nefarious marauders. Players can team up with up to three other gamers in either online or split-screen local co-op modes. The game will maintain the humor of the rebooted franchise.

I'm not sure how the game will maintain the humor of the 2017 film starring Dwayne Johnson, Jack Black, Kevin Hart, and Karen Gillan without the conceit of players being sucked into a video game — unless they're not telling us something. The meta-comedy of the surprise winter hit is what drove the film to break records and go on to become Sony's highest-grossing picture domestically. Perhaps the game will include the movie's storyline of teenagers getting stuck in video game avatars, in which case, that might just be too meta.

The untitled Jumanji 3 is set to hit theaters on December 13, 2019.