‘JUMANJI’ TEAM RACED TO OVERCOME OBSTACLES

PRODUCER MATT TOLMACH AND CO. HAD TO CREATE A WORTHY SEQUEL IN SHORT ORDER

Producer Matt Tolmach wasn’t surprised that Sony Motion Picture Group chairman Tom Rothman wanted a sequel to “Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle.” After all, the film didn’t just open big two years ago this month; its box office take actually increased 38.4% in its second weekend of release — a rare feat for a studio tentpole movie.

But Rothman wanted the sequel, “Jumanji: The Next Level,” for Christmas 2019. That gave Tolmach and Co. a short window to reassemble the movie’s busy stars — including Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart, Jack Black and Nick Jonas — and come up with a storyline that justified the film’s existence.

“We didn’t want to make the sequel because that’s what you do,” says Tolmach. The plot had to be “in keeping with the spirit of the first movie, but at the same time turn it on its ear completely.”

It’s not the first time Sony had faced a challenge with this property. The studio tried for years to formulate a sequel to 1995’s “Jumanji,” starring Robin Williams and adapted from Chris Van Allsburg’s children’s book of the same name, but it languished in development hell. Finally, screenwriter Chris Mckenna came up with the central idea for “Welcome to the Jungle,” focusing on a quartet of high school students awkwardly inhabiting video game avatars that starkly contrast their real-world selves, both physically and emotionally.

Tolmach first presented the idea to Rothman in a meeting shortly after the latter became head of Sony Pictures in February 2015.

“I probably pitched him a couple of things, and he said, ‘maybe, maybe, maybe,’” recalls Tolmach. “Then I said, ‘Here’s the thing that I’m most excited about,’ and I pitched him ‘Jumanji,’ and he literally said, ‘I’m making that movie.’”

Jake Kasdan directed both “Welcome to the Jungle” and “The Next Level” and co-wrote the

COMEDY HIJINKS