Jumanji Open World age rating, UK release date and first impressions

Jumanji Open World is the latest entry from the comedy action franchise, which has been casually building the Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart “will they? won’t they?” meme since 2017, so here’s everything you need to know about the film. We’ll cover the age rating latest (it’s probably going to be a 12 in the UK, by-the-way) and release date details below, but as the name suggests, things get a whole lot more open-ee and world-ee than before. We’ll take you through what that means for the story, which you can get a glimpse of in the trailers below, along with what we know about the runtime, cast and crew; plus our incredibly insightful first impressions, so you can decide whether or not to catch this one on the big screen, or wait for it to drop on Netflix eventually.

After two films spent largely trapped inside the video game iteration of Jumanji, Open World kicks things up a notch by trumpeting out the wild ride of a jungle survival game into the real world. The idea has some similarities with the original Robin Williams film when Jumanji was a board game that came to life with chaotic consequences for the people of Brantford, New Hampshire. However, this time around it throws out the characters from the video game to lead on the mayhem front.

Director Jake Kasdan returns to close out the rebooted trilogy with a Christmas 2026 release, and the “open world” framing suggests a home-town America canvas to replace the fantastical locations from the previous two films. However, with the game’s characters no longer confined to a cartridge, it’s only a matter of time before the rest of the game spills out too.

As you probably already know, Jumanji: Open World is the fifth instalment in the Jumanji franchise and the direct sequel to 2019’s Jumanji: The Next Level. It’s been billed as the final chapter in the rebooted series. It’s been a long road to the screen, with the project first mooted not long after The Next Level’s release in 2019, only to be delayed repeatedly by the pandemic and the busy schedules of its big-name cast.

The success of Open World will hinge a fair bit on what else is on the TV over the Christmas period, if we’re being brutally honest. If there’s a lot of good stuff on and the weather is a bit chilly, rainy, foggy or blowy then it might be a mid response, but if the Super El Nino is quiet and there are a few too many repeats on then it could do well. We’re not expecting reviews to be that glowing, but they probably won’t impact it either way anyway. The age rating is unlikely to be different from the previous films, so it’s going to come down to the success of the marketing team and favorable conditions. Angry Birds 3 will be its closest competition, coming out a week before it, but its biggest number drain will be the potential long tail from Avengers Doomsday and Dune Part 3 over the festive period.

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Jumanji Open World US and UK release date

The Jumanji Open World release date is officially confirmed as Friday, 25th December 2026 in the US, positioning it as a Christmas Day tent pole release. As things stand, this should also be the case for the UK, though international scheduling can sometimes shift slightly, so it’s worth checking back nearer the date.

The film was originally scheduled for release on December 11, but was moved with a possible head-to-head with Avengers Doomsday and Dune Part Three in the mix. Given how packed the 2026 festive slate is shaping up to be, that reshuffle makes sense as a way of giving the film room to breathe at the box office.

There’s no word yet on digital, DVD or Blu-ray release timing, but given the family-friendly, rewatchable nature of the franchise, expect it to make a fairly quick jump to streaming and disc once its cinema run winds down. We’ll be surprised if there isn’t a trilogy bundle release around the same time, so we’ll update things here as they get confirmed.

Age rating certificate (UK & US)

The Jumanji Open World age rating hasn’t yet been confirmed by the British Board of Film Classification, but as mentioned above, there’s plenty of precedent to go on. The previous two instalments, Welcome to the Jungle and The Next Level, both carried a 12A in the UK and a PG-13 in the US, largely down to fantasy peril, mild language and action-adventure violence rather than anything more graphic. This should be a similar case with the 3rd film, but as with everything else we’ll keep you posted here on Tuppence.

Nothing in the marketing so far suggests a move away from that family-adventure sweet spot and you can see from the trailers below that it’s going to be a similar tone as before. If anything, the “chaos breaking into the real world” premise points to more of the same larger-than-life set pieces rather than anything darker.

For now, an age rating of 12A in the UK and a PG-13 in the US looks like the safest bet, keeping it consistent with the rest of the rebooted trilogy. We’ll update this once the BBFC confirms things officially.

Runtime

The official runtime for Jumanji Open World hasn’t been announced yet. The previous two films both ran a fairly tight hour and fifty minutes to two hours, and there’s little reason to expect this one to balloon much beyond that, even with it being the final film in the trilogy. There’s just no reason to make it too baggy, so if you split the difference between the two previous films, you’re probably not too far away from a good ball park prediction for 3.

We’ll update the runtime here as soon as it’s confirmed, but on past form, it shouldn’t demand quite the same packed lunch strategy needed for the bigger blockbusters out this winter, Avengers Doomsday and Dune Part 3.

Story

The plot follows Spencer, Fridge, Bethany and Martha as they deal with a very new set of circumstance from the Jumanji video game, which they’ve had a couple of tussles with in the past. In Jumanji Open World, the game breaks free of its console and unleashes rhinos, hippos and giraffes, along with the main characters in demo mode, onto the streets and restaurants of Brantford. As they try to figure out a way to get things back to normal, Spencer, his mum, brother and the owner of the restaurant get sucked back into the game. Check out the trailers below and it should make sense a bit more.

It’s a neat twist for what’s being billed as the final chapter in the series, taking the game’s threats out into the real world, like in the original film. However, it’ll still have a fairly chunky section in Jumanji too, so expect it to be a splice of the two ideas rolled into one for the final part of the trilogy.

Cast & Crew

Dwayne Johnson, Jack Black, Kevin Hart, Karen Gillan, Alex Wolff, Madison Iseman, Morgan Turner, Ser’Darius Blain, Rhys Darby, Nick Jonas, Awkwafina and Danny DeVito all reprise their roles from the previous films, with Johnson back as Bravestone, Black as Professor Oberon, Hart as Franklin Finbar, and Gillan as Ruby Roundhouse. However, with the new character mix-up in the game, the Jumanji Open World main cast has got a new set of comedy interactions to manage. The funniest from the trailers is Spenser’s mum being Bravestone and his younger brother being Finbar, so when she tries to make him feel better with a trio of kisses on the top of his head, you know there’s going to be some DVD and Blu-ray blooper reel potential from filming the scene.

Jake Kasdan directs from a script he co-wrote with Jeff Pinkner and Scott Rosenberg.

All trailers

As things stand at the time of writing, there is just one trailer for Jumanji Open World, but it clocks in at a little over 3 minutes long, so it gives you a good look at the film. The first half covers the setup with the animals and characters turning up in Brantford, before the second half gives us a glimpse of things back in the game itself. It suggests that things are going to jump between the two locations throughout the film, once they start to try to fix things.

We’ll update this section with more trailers and footage as they’re released in the run-up to Christmas, along with details on Jumanji Open World’s age rating, release date, story, cast, runtime and trailers as they get confirmed. To keep tabs on the latest upcoming films you can check out our movie news section and you can check out the official website at https://jumanji.movie/ to see more on the film.

Jumanji Open World first impressions

Landing the closing chapter of a big comedy trilogy is a rare situation to be in, so there’s a lot riding on Jumanji Open World being able to deliver a satisfying send-off rather than just another round of the same formula. The “real world” chaos angle gives Kasdan a nostalgic nod to the original film to play with after two adventures largely confined to the game’s various biomes. It’s a welcome addition to freshen things up a little from the previous entries and the new character setups look like they could lead to a couple of chuckles.

The returning cast remains one of the franchise’s biggest strengths, and the easy chemistry between Johnson, Black, Hart and Gillan has carried the series through some fairly thin plotting in the past, so expect that dynamic to be leaned on heavily once again here. If you’re expecting a silly flick with big screen CGI “magic” then you probably can’t go too far wrong with this one.

Going up against a stacked festive box office, including a possible strong long run from Avengers Doomsday and Dune Part Three, Jumanji Open World will need decent marketing and word of mouth to stand out. But family audiences looking for a lighter alternative to some of the year’s bigger blockbusters could well make this one of the season’s sleeper hits. In short, it looks a lot like the previous films, so if you liked them and you want to see more then… you know what to do. Maybe!