The New ‘Jumanji’ Movie Is About To Get A Dose Of That ‘Con Air’ Action
Two decades ago, the beloved children’s bookJumanjigot the Hollywood treatment, with Chris Van Allsburg’s black-and-white, Caldecott Medal-winning illustrations becoming the basis for a massive family adventure film starring Robin Williams at the height of his powers. Today, that movie hits a few nostalgic notes among the ’90s kids, but it’s more fondly rememberedfor the memes it has inspiredthan anything else.
In other words, it’s time for a reboot! Well, it’s been time for a rebootsince a screenwriter was originally hired in 2012, butSonyhas decided to speed things up. They evenset a release date and everything, because nothing gets people working quite like an impending deadline. And now, roughly 14 months before the movie is due in theaters,Con AirandGone in 60 SecondswriterScott Rosenberghas been hired to bring the movie down the homestretch.
Read on for everything we currently know about the newJumanjiwriter.
The news of Rosenberg’s hiring comes to us viaThe Hollywood Reporter, who also report thatAlias,LostandFringewriterJeff Pinknerhas been recruited to act as a consultant on the film. What “consultant” actually means in this context is up for debate, but Pinkner’s credentials as “guy who has worked on a whole bunch of projects about mysterious things happening mysteriously” make him a natural fit the fantastical world ofJumanji. As long as he and Rosenberg avoid giving the magical board game at the heart of this story a detailed origin story, everything should be fine.
Rosenberg himself has spent the better part of the best decade working in television, but his feature credits range from bonafide classics likeHigh Fidelityto, uh, Motion Pictures That Exist likeKangaroo Jack. In other words, who knows what hisJumanjiscreenplay will look like?
Actually, what doesany Jumanjimovie look like in 2015? If Rosenberg and Pinkner go back to the source material, they have a clean slate. Van Allsburg’s book is little more than a clever excuse to let him draw animals invading suburbia. From that foundation, the new film can literally be whatever they want it to be. Or they could follow the template established by the 1995 film and create a project that will allow a modern comedy superstar to run from CGI animals for 100 minutes. Is Ben Stiller’s schedule free?
In any case, don’t expect the new film to have a subplot about a young boy turning into a monkey. That was weird 20 years ago and it’s still weird now.
The newJumanjihas already set its sights on aDecember 25, 2016release date, so everyone involved had better get to work.
