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Zero Latency’s Jumanji Family VR Attraction Opens December 4, Three Weeks Before Sony’s Christmas Film

A parent and child in a free-roam VR arena reach out with bare hands and no controllers, wearing generic headsets

Zero Latency will launch Jumanji: The Lost Levels on December 4, 2026 at its free-roam VR venues worldwide. The Melbourne company said so in a release dated August 18. Zero Latency produced the title with Sony Pictures.

It is the first Zero Latency experience to run on hand tracking, with no controllers or other peripherals.

Zero Latency runs more than 150 venues in 30 countries through licensees. The licence with Sony Pictures was announced in February. It is the company’s first film property after the video-game licences Far Cry and Space Marine.

The release did not give a player count, a session length or a ticket price. It called the title Zero Latency’s “most instinctive and accessible experience”.

The release said the December date puts the game in venues three weeks before the next Jumanji film. Sony Pictures releases that film in theatres on December 26, 2026.

Hand tracking replaces the controllers

Zero Latency’s earlier titles put a controller in each player’s hands. Jumanji: The Lost Levels drops it. “For the first time, there are no controllers to pick up, no buttons to learn, and no peripherals standing between you and the world you’re stepping into,” the release said. Players reach, grab, throw and push with their hands. Zero Latency said that removes an onboarding step for guests who have never played a video game.

Zero Latency’s venues run on HTC Vive Focus headsets, which have built-in hand tracking. Its venues are operated by licensees. The release said the launch covers all Zero Latency VR locations on the same date.

A family VR attraction, backed by Zero Latency’s own survey

Zero Latency is selling Jumanji: The Lost Levels as a family product, and it published survey figures alongside the date. The company said 44 per cent of respondents describe Zero Latency as “suitable for families”. It said the brand was once associated with young adults and friend groups.

Sixty per cent of respondents visit location-based entertainment with family and 72.8 per cent with friends. The next two figures describe Zero Latency visitors rather than all respondents. The largest single group of Zero Latency visitors is aged 35 to 44, at 45.8 per cent. Zero Latency said 62.9 per cent of visitors would book for a family activity.

The figures come from Zero Latency’s brand research of June 2026. That survey covered 2,386 adults across Australia, the United States, Canada, France and Spain. That is the same sample and markets as the State of Location-Based VR 2026 report The VR Collective covered on August 16.

“What this research tells us is that people want something they can truly do together as a social experience,” said Tim Ruse, chief executive officer of Zero Latency VR. “For a long time, VR was seen as a novelty, something you tried once to see what it was like. Now, families are our biggest audience, and what they’re looking for is something that gets everyone off the couch, into the same room, and then talking about it on the way home.”

The December calendar and Sony’s marketing spend

The Jumanji films have taken more than $2 billion at the worldwide box office, according to the release. Sony Pictures has not published a marketing budget for the film; the figure below is Bob Cooney’s estimate.

“Sony is going to spend somewhere between $100 million and $150 million marketing Jumanji through the Christmas season, when kids are out of school and families are looking for something to do. Smart operators will be taking advantage of that marketing budget. Operators should be locking down pre-movie on-screen advertising now,” said Bob Cooney, a VR consultant and executive director of LEXRA, the trade association for location-based XR, who has led go-to-market for 16 startups. Cooney publishes The VR Collective.

What this means for operators and content vendors

For Zero Latency licensees, the release sets one network-wide launch date inside the film’s marketing window. Cooney’s advice is to book cinema pre-show advertising for the film’s run now. For other free-roam operators and the studios that supply them, hand tracking with no peripherals reaches more than 150 venues on December 4. Zero Latency and some of its independent operators are LEXRA members.

FAQ

When does Jumanji: The Lost Levels open? December 4, 2026, at Zero Latency VR locations worldwide, according to Zero Latency’s release of August 18, 2026. The next Jumanji film from Sony Pictures opens in theatres on December 26, 2026.

How does Jumanji: The Lost Levels work without controllers? The headset tracks the player’s hands, so there are no controllers or props to hold. Zero Latency said Jumanji: The Lost Levels is its first title built this way. Its venues run on HTC Vive Focus headsets, which have built-in hand tracking.

Is Jumanji: The Lost Levels a family VR attraction? Zero Latency positions it as one. Its June 2026 survey of 2,386 adults found 44 per cent describe the brand as suitable for families. Sixty per cent visit location-based entertainment with family. The largest visitor group is aged 35 to 44.

How many venues will carry the title? Zero Latency said all of its locations worldwide; the company operates more than 150 venues in 30 countries through licensees.

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