11 The song that Alan sings while shaving in the bathroom is the theme to Gilligan’s Island (1964).

If you listen carefully, you can make out the Gilligan’s Island theme song that Alan is singing in the scene from Jumanji. (source)

12 When Van Pelt enters the gun store, the music playing on the radio is the Mexican national anthem. Also, the gun shop owner asks Van Pelt if he’s a postal worker. This is because, during that time, postal workers were causing shootings at their workplaces from which the expression “going postal” originated.

In the movie when Van Pelt goes to the gun store, the Mexican anthem can be heard playing in the background. But when the movie was released in Mexico, the anthem was replaced with a different soundtrack. This was because according to Mexican law, the anthem cannot be played for commercial purposes.

Also, the shopkeeper asks Van Pelt if he is a postal worker. This was because during that time there were cases of incidents when postal workers from the USPS (United States Postal Service) were causing shooting outbreaks at their places of employment. The phrase “going postal” was derived from these incidents. (1, 2)

13 The character, Sarah Whittle, becomes a psychic in the original timeline as portrayed in the movie. This was really logical considering that she goes back in time and knows about all the future events!

After Alan throws the last dice and finishes the game, everything reverts to the year 1969 when Alan and Sarah were still kids. This is according to the rules of the game which says that if a player finishes the game, then everything will return to its normal state. Since Alan and Sarah never got to finish the game when they were kids, this is the first time they finish it, returning back to the old times.

Sarah becoming a psychic makes sense as when she goes back, she retains all the memories. She has all the knowledge about the future making her a legitimate psychic in the altered timeline. Although some people believe that the future would change in the altered timeline as Alan is present this time, that is not the case. The fact that Peter and Judy show up with their parents and Alan and Sarah intervene to prevent the accident that caused the parents’ deaths shows that the future hasn’t changed much. (source)

14 In the movie, Alan tries to convince Carl that he knows him by telling him that he used to be called “Soleman” at the Parrish shoe factory. This moniker is seen on Carl’s apron at the beginning of the movie.

When Alan gets arrested by Carl, the duo gets into talking while in the car. It is in the car that Alan tells him all the things he knew about Carl. (source: TriStar Pictures)

15 To film the rhinoceros stampede, the production crew used a hydraulic ram. They then used it to launch a steel rhinoceros through the wall of the library. The steel rhino was replaced by a herd of animals with CGI during post-production.

The above is a behind-the-scenes of how the stampede scene was shot in the movie. A hydraulic ram with a steel rhinoceros was used to break through the wall. The rest was CGI. Below is the footage from the movie.

(source)

16 There are some continuity issues with the movie. An example is in the monsoon scene when water fills up the house. But previously during the stampede, the walls were torn down by the animals which would not have held water inside.

There might be nostalgia associated with the movie, but that does not mean that every scene in the movie is perfect. There are many continuity issues that fans have spotted. The first one is when the mosquito-type insect sits on the windshield of the car where Alan, Judy, and Peter had taken refuge, and it makes a hole with its sting. But later, the hole disappears from the windshield!

The second one is when the Aunt stops the cop, Carl, in the middle of the road. He had his seat belt on. As the plant grabs and takes away the car, Carl jumps out of it as if he was not wearing the seat belt.

Also, during the stampede, the animals got out by tearing down the walls. But when a monsoon strikes, the house fills up with water. Fans are confused whether it was supposed to be magical or just a mistake.

17 Even though the movie received mixed reviews from critics, it went on to be a box office hit. The movie was completed with a budget of $65 million and it went on to earn $263 million worldwide.  

Jumanji became the 10th-highest-grossing film in 1995.  It did very well in the box office. In the US and Canada alone, the movie made $100.5 million. The movie also made an additional $162.3 million in other countries which brought the worldwide gross earnings to $262.8 million.

The movie had mixed reviews from critics. Roger Ebert, an American film critic, gave the movie a star-and-a-half out of four stars. He felt that the plot was lacking a concrete storyline and also, the reliability on artificial effects was too much. Ebert also considered the movie unsuitable for children. Metacritic, a website for movie reviews, awarded the movie an average score of 39 out of 100. It is fair to say that the movie had unfavorable reviews when it was launched. (source)

18 In 2005, Jumanji was listed number 48 in Channel 4’s 100 Greatest Family Films. 

Channel 4 released a list of the 100 Greatest Family Films in 2005. Jumanji featured in the list at number 48. It was just behind Dumbo and Spiderman. There is a nostalgia associated with the movie. Experts feel that no movie today can live up to the standard set by the 1995 film. Nowadays, Hollywood relies more on style than substance. On the contrary, 1995’s Jumanji was packed with action, emotion, amazing plot progression, unique characters, fantasy, and a great cast. (1, 2)

19 Milton Bradley produced their Jumanji board game after the film came out although it was only loosely based on the movie. The game went on to become very popular in the coming years to the point where a board used during the shooting of the film was sold in 2014 for $60,800.

Known as “Jumanji: The Game,” the board game based on the movie was launched by Milton Bradley. They launched it in the same year as the movie, i.e. 1995. Both the game and the movie revolved around the children’s picture book of the same name by Chris Van Allsburg.

On the outer packaging of the game, the tagline from the movie is etched which says, “A game for those who seek to find…a way to leave their world behind.” The game embraces the description. Similar to the movie, the play is decided by rolls of the dice in the game as well. Despite everything based on chance, the game is fun to play because of the adventurous theme and the suspense.

In 2014, a prop that was used as the board game in the film was auctioned and sold for $60,800 on eBay. (source)

20 The Parrish Shoes sign is still on display to this day in Keene, New Hampshire.

The Parrish Shoes sign is a reminder of the bygone, golden time for the city of Keene. The mural has a strong connection to the Oscar-winning Robin Williams. The mural is located in a building where a part of the movie was shot in 1994.

Originally, the sign was meant to be just temporary. Bill Wieters, a Rhode Island artist, helped to paint the sign. He remembers that the team was asked to use washable paint so that the mural could be removed after the shooting was done. But the owners of the building wanted the sign to stay as a reminder for coming generations. So, the team of artist made the mural permanent after the shooting was completed.

When Robin Williams committed suicide in 2015, the mural became a place of mourning for the townsfolk. (1, 2)