Jake Kasdan Lands JUMANJI Directing Gig

Jumanji

Twentieth Century Fox has hired Bad Teacher director Jake Kasdan to take the reins of their announced Jumanji remake. High Fidelity and Con Air screenwriter Scott Rosenberg has written the screenplay for the project which the studio still has scheduled for theaters at the end of this year on Christmas Day.

The 1995 original Jumanji, an adaptation of the 1985 novel by Chris Van Allsburg, starred Robin Williams as a man who has survived within a magical boardgame for decades before being released alongside a number of wild jungle animals that begin to overrun a sleepy New England town. The film was a hit that grossed over $260 million at the worldwide box office.

Given that right now, there is just a little more than eleven months until Fox anticipates having the film in theaters, Kasdan certainly has his work cut out for himself. There is no announced casting and given the effects intensive nature of the story, Kasdan will have to dive into pre-production immediately to prep things in order to have the film in front of cameras as soon as possible. He is under an incredible time pressure to make that December 25th release date. Will we see the studio perhaps push that release date back to sometime in 2017? I wouldn’t be surprised.

Via Deadline.

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About Rich Drees 7276 Articles
A film fan since he first saw that Rebel Blockade Runner fleeing the massive Imperial Star Destroyer at the tender age of 8 and a veteran freelance journalist with twenty-five years experience writing about film and pop culture. He is a member of the Philadelphia Film Critics Circle.
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