This month of December is expected to have tons of surprises for all movie fans out there. Mainly because of the clash of the two of the most known epic-adventure themed films of 2019: Jumanji: The Next Level and Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.
Both of these films are planned to be released in theaters at the peak of the holidays. The latest Jumanji installment is set for Dec. 4, while Star Wars will be released on Dec. 18 in the United States. Fans are getting hyped on what will happen once these sci-fi adventure films get up for battle for the second time.
Jumanji vs Star Wars in 2017
These two franchises had already a head-to-head battle in 2017. At that time. Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle won the throne as it earned a worldwide rollout of an estimated $960 million while Star Wars: Episode VIII The Last Jedi had a whopping worldwide rollout of an estimated $1.3 billion.
The producers of Jumanji: The Next Level expressed on CinemaBlend their expectations and feelings towards fighting another gigantic movie franchise.
Jumanji vs. Star Wars: 2nd Round
"We were showing up with the goods, but still it was, it was super, super daunting," said Matt Tolmach-- one of the producers of Jumanji.
Tolmach, along with another Jumanji producer Hiram Garcia stated that they are confident with their film even going up against Star Wars. When asked why they decided to pick the dates of December to showcase the film, they've said that they'd think it's the perfect date to let families enjoy a comedic adventure film for all.
"...this is a holiday movie, that it's a movie about people coming together and being there for each other, which is sort of in the holiday tradition, it just felt like it was good timing," said Garcia.
Aside from its comedy, fans can also be reassured that Jumanji will fight against Star Wars until the end, especially with all their cast on the set—featuring Kevin Hart, Jack Black, Karen Gillan, and of course, Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson. Still, it's the season of loving and sharing. That's why producers of Jumanji explained that they are not battling against Star Wars; they just want to 'co-exist' with the iconic saga.
"...we felt we were an eight-to-80 movie that like, on a holiday, when the family's together and everyone's deciding, 'All right, we've all seen Star Wars. What do we see next?' We're the movie that we know from the little kids to grandma, there's going to be jokes in there, there's going to be fun in there and you're going to leave having big fun, good time with our movie."
Star Wars Expects $250M+ on the First Day
Star Wars franchise has always been the 'talk of the town' whenever another of its films is being produced in the market. According to the film website Deadline, Star Wars: Episode IX The Rise of Skywalker is expected to hit the Christmas season with a strong start, having a gross of more than $250M on its first showing on Dec. 20.
This comparison was based after its pre-selling of movie tickets already sold more than other Star Wars films, according to the online movie ticket-selling website Fandango.
If this is true, Rise of Skywalker will top all Star Wars franchise and be one of the highlights in this year's top-grossing films.
