Giving Robin Williams' JUMANJI the reboot treatment feels like, at best, a pointless prospect, but with Dwayne Johnson on-board, I'm beginning to feel a small ray of hope that this could actually work out. The upcoming reboot is quickly coming together at Sony with Jake Kasdan (BAD TEACHER) taking on directing duties and Johnson recently updated his fans earlier today via Instagram.
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.
Following in Robin Williams' footsteps less than two years after his death struck many people the wrong way, but Dwayne Johnson assured his fans that the JUMANJI reboot will honor both Robin Williams and the character he played.
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.
Although it's not yet confirmed, Kevin Hart was also circling a starring role in the JUMANJI reboot, reuniting him with his CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE partner. Dwayne Johnson also revealed that there will be more main roles in this film, saying "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." While I'm not overly optimistic about this project, I'm curious to see what Johnson and company have in store; after all, Dwayne Johnson rarely fails to deliver some pure entertainment.
JUMANJI is set for a July 28, 2017 release.