‘Jumanji’ takes ‘The Last Jedi’ by surprise
Movies didn’t dare take on the force of Star Wars while The Force Awakens
(2015) and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
(2016) were busily obliterating box office records.
But this time, Star Wars: The Last
Jedi has come up against the formidable Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart and Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle.
Opening just five days after The Last
Jedi, Jumanji shadowed Star Wars until — shockingly — the reboot of the 1995 Robin Williams movie took the top spot in its third weekend with $37.2 million.
Still far behind in total box office ($245.6 million to The Last Jedi’s $572.7 million, according to Monday’s final figures), Jumanji has exceeded even the most giddily optimistic expectation.
“I knew Jumanji was going to be a hit,” says Scott Mendelson, box office analyst for Forbes. “But I never thought it would be taking on The Last Jedi like this.”
So how did Jumanji succeed against the holiday box office Death Star?
❚ It hits the right notes. Director Jake Kasdan made an action film featuring high-schoolers transported into a deadly video game — all wrapped in the wish-fulfillment concept of a nerdy gamer who turns into 6-foot-4 avatar Dr. Smolder Bravestone (Johnson).
“Playing teenagers trapped in adult bodies, movies like Big, 13 Going on 30 did it correctly,” Johnson says. “If not done correctly, you can go off the rails quickly. ... But once I wrapped this movie, I was confident.”
Jumanji received decent reviews (77% of critics gave it a “fresh” rating at the aggregate site Rotten Tomatoes). More importantly, 90% of audiences liked it. ❚ The cast has chemistry. Johnson and Hart, who proved their buddymovie chops in 2016’s action comedy Central Intelligence, are joined by Karen Gillan and scene-stealing Jack Black (as a teenage beauty stuck in a middle-age man’s body).
The combination of big stars and a
story with broad reach made Jumanji
“the perfect box office beast,” drawing all audience demographics, says Paul Dergarabedian, senior box office analyst for comScore. “They even added Nick Jonas for more youngster appeal.” ❚ It’s the right season for family films. Between most schools taking an extended holiday break and the brutal weather, Jumanji (along with The Last
Jedi) has been a needed oasis. “Families want comedy and that escapism Jumanji provides, especially when you’re freezing, as most of America is,” says Jeff Bock, senior box office analyst for Exhibitor Relations. ❚ The zany promotion never
stopped. Johnson has talked up Jumanji to his 12.4 million Twitter and 98.4 million Instagram followers, from the film’s Hawaiian set to presentations at CinemaCon, the trade show for theater owners.
The movie’s Hollywood premiere Dec. 11 featured Johnson driving the stars to the red carpet in a rickety Ju
manji safari vehicle before he posed holding girlfriend Lauren Hashian’s baby bump (after tweeting the happy pregnancy news a few hours earlier).
“Jumanji has just kept on going,” Dergarabedian says. “It’s the success story of 2018.”