‘Jumanji’ Movie Updates: Dwayne Johnson Shares First Behind-the-Scenes Video of Blessing Ceremony as Production in Hawaii Officially Begins

‘Jumanji’ lead actor Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson shared the first video from the filming set in Hawaii showing a blessing ceremony as production commences.

According to Collider, Johnson posted the first ever behind-the-scenes video from the Hawaii filming set on his Instagram account. It showed Johnson with the principal cast members as well as director Jake Kasdan in a blessing ceremony conducted by a Hawaiian priest.

Johnson captioned the video with, "Before we embark on our #Jumanji here in Hawaii, we gathered our entire cast (here with me are Jack Black, Kevin Hart, our director Jake Kasdan and Karen Gillan) and crew together as our Hawaiian Kahu (priest) Cordell Keka blesses our film with powerful aloha spirit of laughter, enjoyment and love.”

He continued, “I often talk about mana (spirit) with you guys and the mana in this room/in this moment was extremely powerful - it can take your breath away and give you goosebumps like crazy. (I was low key ready to run thru a wall in this moment;). Our Kahu eloquently spoke and reminded us that even though our faces are the ones on screen, it takes an AMAZING CREW OF EVERYONE to make this movie work. And when we get tired from long work hours to always remember the joy, laughter and fun our movie will bring to families around the world. So simple, but such a great reminder to keep that perspective of bringing joy and fun to families. Very cool.”

Johnson ended the post with, “Thank you Kahu Cordell Keka for this powerful blessing, thank you Hawaii - proud to be back home and THANK YOU in advance to our hard working crew. #JUMANJI #OurHawaiianBlessing #Mana #LetsShoot."

According to MovieWeb, the 44-year old actor is set to play a character named Dr. Bravestone. No other details have been revealed regarding the role.

He first announced his involvement last April on Instagram and admitted in a previous interview that the film will not be a reboot of the classic 1995 fantasy-adventure film of the same name, which starred Robin Williams in the lead role as Alan Parrish. Johnson said that Kasdan’s upcoming film will be a continuation instead.

The original film was directed by Joe Johnston and was released on December 1995. Williams portrayed Alan Parrish, a man trapped in the Jumanji board game for twenty-six years. Despite lukewarm reception from critics, it was a financial success earning $262.75 million against a production budget of $65 million, according to The Numbers.

‘Jumanji’ is an upcoming adventure-fantasy film directed by Jake Kasdan and written by Scott Rosenberg. It is produced under Sony Pictures Entertainment, Radar Pictures, Matt Tolmach Productions, and Seven Bucks Productions and is distributed in the United States by Columbia Pictures.

The film is scheduled to be released on July 28, 2017.