Trivia / Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle

• Approval of God: Chris Van Allsburg, author of the original Jumanji book, called Welcome to the Jungle, "...an amusing and entertaining ensemble piece."
• California Doubling: The jungle and waterfall scenes were shot in Honolulu and Hilo, Hawaii.
• Channel Hop: One within Sony Pictures. The first film was released under the TriStar Pictures banner, and this one upgraded to the mainline Columbia Pictures.
• Dawson Casting: Averted with Martha (Morgan Turner was 17 during filming). Spencer and Bethany are a borderline case (Alex Wolff and Madison Iseman were 18 and 19 during filming). Played ridiculously straight with Fridge, as actor Ser'Darius Blain was not only 29 during filming, but is actually 8 months older than Karen Gillan.
• Dyeing for Your Art: Karen Gillan had to keep in shape, endure difficult fight choreographies, and was a target of mosquitos given the fake tan meant she could not be sprayed with repellent. Hey, at least she got a Lampshade Hanging out of it.
• Fake American: Scottish Karen Gillan puts on a rather convincing American accent to play Ruby Roundhouse.
• I Want You to Meet an Old Friend of Mine: While they have no scenes together, this makes the third film with both Jack Black and Colin Hanks.
• Licensed Game: A mobile game based on Jumanji was made as part of the film's promotion - ironic, as an early draft featured Jumanji as a minigame format. It can be seen here.
• Playing Against Type: A lot of the film's humor comes from the actors playing the high school characters they were before being pulled into Jumanji, like Dwayne Johnson as a nerdy germophobe who keeps screaming at things. Apparently Jack Black had a persona all prepped up in his head for a ditzy teenage girl but never imagined he'd need to use it. Karen Gillan of course had to play a meek teenage bookworm who was a complete fail at flirting with men. And even though self-deprecation of his size is exactly Kevin Hart's style, he still had to pull out an extra stop physically to act like he wasn't actually used to being 5' 3".
• Promoted Fangirl: Karen Gillan is a huge fan of the original movie, and reportedly dropped her glass of wine upon seeing she was invited to do a new one.
• Sequel Gap: Released 22 years after the original Jumanji.
• Similarly Named Works:
  • This is the second movie that Dwayne Johnson has starred in called Welcome to the Jungle as that's what The Rundown was called in most countries outside of America.
  • There was an unrelated 2013 movie called Welcome to the Jungle.
• Sleeper Hit: The film is surprisingly successful for a sequel very few believed in, with a worldwide gross of over $960 million by the end of its 24-week run. While facing The Last Jedi, no less.
• Those Two Actors:
  • The previous year, Dwayne Johnson and Kevin Hart had the lead roles in the film Central Intelligence.
  • Marc Evan Jackson and Maribeth Monroe, who portray Principal Bentley and Bethany's English teacher, had previously stared in The Good Place as Shawn and Mindy St. Claire.
• Throw It In!:
  • According to an interview, Jack Black improvised Bethany's "I can't even with this place" line.
  • Karen Gillan really was slapping at mosquitoes most of the time, and improvised her complaint about skimpy clothes.
• What Could Have Been:
  • Sony actually had a Jumanji sequel planned for a 2000 release, with Visual Effects Supervisor Ken Ralston promoted to director. Apparently, it would have involved the President of the United States getting sucked into Jumanji, then teaming up with hybrid animals, to take control of the US back from Vice President Steve Buscemi. While Ralston stepped down before filming could actually begin, the Jumanji DVD Commentary still references a sequel directed by him.
  • The original script had Spencer already aware of the existence of Jumanji, because it was a mass-produced video game from the 90s that was recalled for being too dangerous and addictive.
  • Tom Holland had originally been cast to be "Seaplane McDonough" (Alex's avatar), but he had to drop out due to scheduling conflicts with Spider-Man: Homecoming.
  • In an earlier script, Spencer and Martha would Choose to Stay in Jumanji as their avatars.
• Word of Saint Paul: Jack Black believes that the Jumanji gameboard is alien technology or "some crazy jungle medicine man magic".
• You Sound Familiar:
  • In the Japanese dub, Nigel is voiced by Masashi Ebara, who voiced Alan Parrish in all four dubs of the original film.
  • In the Canadian French dub, Ruby Roundhouse is voiced by Kim Jalabert, who voiced Judy Shepherd in the first movie.

---