Dwayne Johnson Confirms the New ‘Jumanji’ Movie Is a Sequel

This weekend, as he normally does, Dwayne Johnson went on Instagram (via ComingSoon.net) to say goodbye to his most recent movie shoot and say hello to the next thing in his pipeline (seriously, the only time this guy sleeps must be when he is flying from one movie location to another). And while it’s worth noting that Johnson thanked many of the Fast 8 cast and crew and not Vin Diesel  —  the feud lives on!  —  it was another small comment about his upcoming production of Jumanji that turned a few heads.

Finished strong and on to the next. That's an officially wrap on #FastAndFurious8. Thank you to our director @fgarygray for the vision and execution. Thank you UNIVERSAL for being tremendous partners as always, thank you to all my fellow co-stars for the daily effort and grind. Scott Eastwood you handsome sumbitch! Natalie Emmanuel I have a cold Budweiser ready for you and Tyrese Gibson you still have the biggest smile and forehead I've ever seen.😂 And a huge THANK YOU to our hard working production crew - the backbone of our business. Your kind words meant a lot to me last night - thank you! In the end, we all rallied, as great teams do, kicked ass and will deliver an amazing movie to the world. Proud of our entire FAST FAMILY. And now in two weeks I'll reunite with ol' friends Kevin Hart & Jack Black and we have the honor to introduce a whole new generation to the amazing world of #JUMANJI. *(for the record we are NOT making a reboot, but rather a continuation of the awesome JUMANJI story). It's also crazy to me how much me, Kev and Jack look like triplets when we're together. 👶🏽👶🏻👶🏿. Man this is gonna be FUN. #WheelsUp #ThatsAWrap #FromFastAndFurious #StraightIntoJumanji #BigBrownBaldTattooedMan #DarkChocolateComedicRockStar #BrillaintCrazyCurvyCaucasion #TheseHashtagsAreRidiculous #INeedSleepAndCARBS #ButIWillSettleForTequila

A photo posted by therock (@therock) on Aug 19, 2016 at 11:12am PDT

Back in May, Johnson promised fans in another Instagram post that the new movie would be careful to ensure that Robin Williams’ character was “forever immortalized in the world of Jumanji in an earnest and cool way.” This suggested to many people that the new Jumanji movie would share some degree of continuity with the original film, either as a direct sequel or a standalone film that takes place in the same general universe. The confirmation from Johnson that Jumanji will be a direct sequel to Jumanji  —  oh dear, that could get a little confusing  —  therefore may not exactly be out of left field, but it does open the door for Jumanji (the second one) to build upon the story of the first one instead of recreating it.

Does this mean we’ll actually venture into the world on the other side of the board game? It seems like a natural fit for a Jumanji (the first one) follow-up, but we’ll have to see what Johnson and company have in mind. Either way, though, the film is set to be released in theaters on July 28, 2017, so time to get cracking, Johnson!