Jumanji: The Next Level director Jake Kasdan has revealed that there was a "critical issue" with sequels he wanted to avoid.
Speaking to Digital Spy, Kasdan explained how he tried to make sure that even though this was a sequel, he didn't just go bigger for the sake of going bigger.
"I do think that there's a critical issue with action movies, and particularly with sequels, which is you want to do your best not to let an increase in scale diminish the impact of what's happening," he said.
"Because having more of something doesn't necessarily make it more dramatic. In fact, sometimes it makes it less dramatic. I think that sometimes an army of digital whatevers can, for me, have the effect of making me kind of shut off a little."
Another issue that Kasdan had to overcome for The Next Level was the fact that Welcome to the Jungle ended with the Jumanji game destroyed, partly because he was never thinking about a sequel.
"When occasionally people would bring [a sequel] up, I was always sort of resistant to think about it that way. Because it felt like my job was to make the best version of that movie," he explained.
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"So when the opportunity came to do another one, it meant that we really were starting from nothing, you know?"
The Next Level brings all the characters back into the game, but the world of Jumanji has changed from what they experienced before.
"I mean, the priority heading into this was how do we not make a sequel that feels like a repetition of the thing we just did 20 minutes ago?," Kasdan outlined. "I think the cast felt the same way. You know, we can't just repeat ourselves.
"I don't think any of us would have done it if it was just a repetition, because we all felt an ownership and love for the first movie, and we didn't want to just do it again immediately."
The Jumanji cast recently spoke to Digital Spy about the Marvel star they would play in a potential sequel, as well as going up against a Star Wars movie again.
Jumanji: The Next Level is released in UK cinemas on December 11 and US cinemas on December 13.
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Movies Editor, Digital Spy Ian has more than 10 years of movies journalism experience as a writer and editor. Starting out as an intern at trade bible Screen International, he was promoted to report and analyse UK box-office results, as well as carving his own niche with horror movies, attending genre festivals around the world. After moving to Digital Spy, initially as a TV writer, he was nominated for New Digital Talent of the Year at the PPA Digital Awards. He became Movies Editor in 2019, in which role he has interviewed 100s of stars, including Chris Hemsworth, Florence Pugh, Keanu Reeves, Idris Elba and Olivia Colman, become a human encyclopedia for Marvel and appeared as an expert guest on BBC News and on-stage at MCM Comic-Con. Where he can, he continues to push his horror agenda – whether his editor likes it or not.
