'Jumanji 2' Release Date & Latest News: Premiere Date Moved! How The Dwayne Johnson-Kevin Hart Film Will Honor Robin Williams

The release date for "Jumanji 2" has been officially pushed back. Sony announced that the reboot starring Dwayne Johnson and Kevin Hart will be in theaters in December 2017.

But when "Jumanji 2" screens, moviegoers will also see how it will pay homage to Robin Williams, who starred in original version from 1995. The actor passed away in 2014.

"Jumanji" was originally set to premiere in the summer of 2017, but Sony has decided it would be better fit for a Christmas holiday release. The studio has not given a reason for the change in dates but then Sony has been switching a lot of movies in its release calendar of late, according to Movie Fone.

Meanwhile, the "Jumanji 2" reboot is still in the middle of filming on location in Hawaii. The cast has been constantly sharing photos from behind the scenes on their social media account.

Before work began on "Jumanji 2," Dwayne Johnson shared that the reboot will be honoring Robin Williams, whose iconic character in the first film was unforgettable. "The love and respect I have for this man is boundless," Johnson wrote on Instagram. "You have my word, we will honor his name and the character of "Alan Parrish" will stand alone and be forever immortalized in the world of JUMANJI in an earnest and cool way," he added.

And the #JUMANJI magic begins. Excellent meeting with our director Jake Kasdan, producer Matt Tolmach, and our @SevenBucksProd team to work on our new re-imagining of this amazing story. I felt like in order to craft something cool we should begin where it all started. Award winning writer Chris Van Allsburg's source material of JUMANJI. Chris also wrote THE POLAR EXPRESS (later adapted by Robert Zemeckis and Tom Hanks) and has a very special & magical way of storytelling. I'm feelin' good and confident stepping into these shoes as a producer as well as actor to bring you something great that you and your entire fam can enjoy. An important thing that I want to be honest and bring up is Robin Williams. The love and respect I have for this man is boundless. You have my word, we will honor his name and the character of "Alan Parrish" will stand alone and be forever immortalized in the world of JUMANJI in an earnest and cool way. I have an idea of what to do and I think his family will be proud. I also think Robin is somewhere lookin' down and laughing, remembering the first time we met backstage and I (for the first time ever) was a star struck bumbling idiot that couldn't even get my words out. Idiot. He literally calmed me down w/ that smile and laugh. But that's for another fun story down the road. We got a great team assembled already over at our home base of SONY and now we build from here. Here's another fun part... in the original movie there were three big roles. In our new story there's now FIVE. Been so damn cool to see all my actor buddies push their projects aside so hopefully they can come play in our world. Should have cool casting announcements this week. Will keep you posted. #TheMagicBegins #JustPressStart #JUMANJI

A photo posted by therock (@therock) on May 9, 2016 at 10:23am PDT

"Jumanji 2" will take on a fresh approach, which will be based on the book written by Chris Van Allsburg. Kevin Hart echoes that the new film will not attempt to redo the original Robin Williams flick. "We would never try to touch something as good as that and try to make it our own," the actor told Entertainment Tonight.

Aside from Dwayne Johnson and Kevin Hart, the film also features Jack Black, Karen Gillan and Nick Jonas. Its official title has not yet been confirmed, however, so keep checking back for more news and updates about this movie on this site.