Jumanji

This article is about the 1995 film. For the picture book, see Jumanji (picture book). For other uses, see Jumanji (disambiguation). For the TV series, see Jumanji (TV series). For the sequel, see Jumanji (2017 film).
Jumanji

Theatrical release poster
Directed by Joe Johnston
Produced by
Screenplay by
Based on Jumanji
by Chris Van Allsburg
Starring
Music by James Horner
Cinematography Thomas Ackerman
Edited by Robert Dalva
Production
company
Distributed by TriStar Pictures
Release dates
  • December 15, 1995 (1995-12-15)
Running time
 104 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Budget $65 million[1]
Box office $262.8 million[1]

Jumanji is a 1995 American family fantasy adventure film directed by Joe Johnston. It is an adaptation of the 1981 children's book of the same name by Chris Van Allsburg. The film was written by Greg Taylor, Jonathan Hensleigh, and Jim Strain, and stars Robin Williams, Kirsten Dunst, Bradley Pierce, David Alan Grier, Bonnie Hunt, Jonathan Hyde, and Bebe Neuwirth. The special effects were provided by Industrial Light & Magic for computer graphic elements and Amalgamated Dynamics for animatronics components. The film was dedicated to visual effects supervisor Stephen L. Price, who died before the film's release.

The story centers on young Alan Parrish, who becomes trapped in a board game while playing with his best friend Sarah Whittle in 1969. Twenty-six years later in 1995, siblings Judy and Peter Shepherd find the game, begin playing and then unwittingly release the now-adult Alan. After tracking down Sarah, the quartet resolve to finish the game in order to reverse all of the destruction it has caused.

The film was shot in Keene, New Hampshire, representing the story's fictional town of Brantford, New Hampshire. Additional filming took place in Vancouver, British Columbia. The film was released on December 15, 1995. Despite its lukewarm critical reception, it was a box office success, earning $262,797,249 worldwide on a budget of approximately $65 million and it became the 10th highest-grossing movie of 1995.

In 2005, a spiritual sequel to Jumanji titled Zathura was released; it was also adapted from a Van Allsburg book. A reimagining of the first film is currently in development with Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart, Jack Black and Karen Gillan cast to play as-of-yet unspecified roles.

Plot

In 1869, near Brantford, New Hampshire, two brothers named Caleb and Benjamin bury a chest, hoping that no one will ever find it. One hundred years later in 1969, Alan Parrish visits a shoe factory owned by his father, Samuel. He visits his friend Carl Bentley, an employee, who reveals a new shoe prototype he made by himself. Alan misplaces the shoe and damages an important machine, but Carl takes responsibility and loses his job. After being attacked by a group of delinquents, who also steal his bicycle, Alan follows the sound of tribal drumbeats to a construction site. He finds the chest containing a board game called Jumanji, and brings it home.

At home, after an argument with Samuel about attending a boarding school, Alan plans to run away. Sarah Whittle, his friend, arrives to return his bicycle, and they begin playing Jumanji. With each roll of the dice, the player piece moves by itself and a cryptic message describing the roll's outcome appears in the crystal ball at the center of the board. Sarah rolls the dice but nothing happens. Alan rolls the dice; a message tells him to wait in a jungle until someone rolls 5 or 8, and he is sucked into the game. Afterwards, a swarm of bats appears and chases Sarah out of the mansion.

Twenty-six years later, Judy and Peter Shepherd move into the vacant Parrish house with their aunt Nora, their parents having died in an accident on a ski trip in Canada. The next day Judy and Peter find Jumanji in the attic and begin playing it. Their rolls summon giant mosquitoes and a group of monkeys. The game rules state that everything will be restored when the game ends, so they continue playing. Peter's next roll releases a lion and an adult Alan, who rushes to his father's factory. On the way, he meets Carl, who is now working as a police officer. In the now-abandoned factory, a homeless man tells Alan that after his disappearance, Sam abandoned the business and searched for his son, until his death four years earlier. The factory's closure has devastated the town's economy.

Realizing that they need Sarah to finish the game, the three locate Sarah — now suffering mental trauma from Jumanji and Alan's disappearance — and persuade her to join them. Sarah's move releases fast-growing man-eating vines, and Alan's next roll releases a big game hunter named Van Pelt, whom Alan first met in the jungle. The next roll summons a herd of various animals, causing a stampede, and a pelican steals the game. Peter retrieves it, but Alan is arrested by Carl, and Van Pelt steals the game. Peter, Sarah, and Judy track Van Pelt to a department store where they set booby traps to deter him and retrieve the game, while Alan escapes from Carl's car. When the four return to the mansion — now completely overrun by jungle wildlife — they release one calamity after another, until an earthquake destroys the mansion. As Van Pelt corners Alan and prepares to kill him, Alan finally makes the winning roll, causing everything that happened as a result of the game to be reversed.

Back in 1969, Alan and Sarah are children once again, but have full memories of the game's events. Alan reconciles with his father and admits that he damaged the factory's machine. Carl is rehired, and Sam tells his son that he does not have to attend boarding school. Alan and Sarah throw Jumanji into a river, then share a kiss.

In the present, both of Alan's parents are alive and well, and Alan has continued his father's business. Alan and Sarah are married and expecting their first child. They meet Judy, Peter, and their parents Jim and Martha for the first time at a Christmas party. Alan offers Jim a job, and convinces them to cancel their upcoming ski trip, averting their deaths.

On a beach in France, two young girls hear drumbeats while walking, as Jumanji lies partially buried in the sand.

Cast

The cast also includes Adam Hann-Byrd and Laura Bell Bundy as the younger Alan and Sarah, respectively; Patricia Clarkson as Carol-Anne Parrish, Alan's mother; and Malcolm Stewart and Annabel Kershaw as Jim and Martha Shepherd, Judy and Peter's parents.

Filming

While Peter Guber was visiting Boston, he invited author Chris Van Allsburg, who lives in Providence, Rhode Island, to option his book. Van Allsburg wrote one of the screenplay's drafts, which he described as "sort of trying to imbue the story with a quality of mystery and surrealism".[2]

Soundtrack

Jumanji: Complete Motion Picture Score
Film score (Digital download)/Audio CD by James Horner
Released November 21, 1995
Length 51:04
Label Epic Soundtrax

Commercial songs from film, but not on soundtrack

Reception

Jumanji did well at the box office, earning $100,475,249 in the United States and Canada and an additional $162,322,000 overseas, bringing the worldwide gross to $262,797,249.[3][4]

Despite the film's success, Jumanji earned mixed reviews from critics. Rotten Tomatoes gives the film 48% from 33 critics, with a rating average of 5.6 out of 10.[5] Metacritic posts an average rating of 39%, based on 18 reviews.[6] Van Allsburg of the Los Angeles Times approved of the movie despite the changes and its not being as "idiosyncratic and peculiar" as the book, declaring that "[t]he film is faithful in reproducing the chaos level that comes with having a jungle animal in the house. It's a good movie."[2]

Legacy

A television series was produced between 1996 and 1999. While it borrowed heavily from the movie, incorporated various characters, locations and props, and modeled Alan's house and the board game on the way they appeared in the film, the series rebooted rather than continued the movie's storyline. In the television version, on each turn the players are given a "game clue" and then sucked into the jungle until they solve it. Alan is stuck in Jumanji because he has not seen his clue. Judy and Peter try to help him leave the game, providing their motivation during the series. Sarah is absent from the series.

A video game based on the film was released in Europe for the PlayStation 2 in 2006.[7]

In July 2012, rumors emerged that a remake of the film was already in development. In a conversation with The Hollywood Reporter, Columbia Pictures president Doug Belgrad said: "We're going to try and reimagine Jumanji and update it for the present."[8] On August 1, 2012, it was confirmed that Matthew Tolmach would be producing the new version alongside William Teitler, who produced the original film.[9]

In 2014, a game board prop from the movie was auctioned on eBay and sold for US$60,800.[10][11]

Related film

Zathura: A Space Adventure, the spiritual sequel that was marketed as being from the same continuity with varied uses of the tagline, "From the world of Jumanji" was released as a feature film in 2005. Unlike the book of the same name, the movie makes no references to the previous film outside of the marketing statement. Both films are based on books written by Chris Van Allsburg. With the films being based on books which take place in the same series, the movies vaguely made reference to that concept from the novels.[12]

Sequel

Main article: Jumanji (2017 film)

On August 5, 2015, Sony Pictures Entertainment announced their plans to film a remake and set the release date as December 25, 2016.[13] Internet reception to this announcement was negative, with some posters remarking that this announcement came too soon after the death of Williams.[14][15] The news was also heavily criticized by Bradley Pierce and E! News, the latter of which stated that they felt that the remake was "unnecessary and kind of insulting".[16][17] On January 14, 2016, it was announced that Jake Kasdan will direct the remake.[18][19] On January 20, 2016, it was announced that the remake would be pushed back to July 28, 2017.[20] In April 2016, Dwayne Johnson signed on to produce and star in the remake,[21] while Variety, The Wrap and Deadline reported that Kevin Hart, Jack Black and Nick Jonas are in early talks to co-star.[22][23][24] In August 2016, Dwayne Johnson confirmed that the film would not be a reboot, rather a continuation of the 1995 film and that it would be filmed in Hawaii.[25][26] In August, Johnson announced on Instagram that Karen Gillan has been cast in the film.[27][28] In September 2016, Johnson release a concept art of his character "The Smoldering" Dr. Bravestone.[29]

References

  1. 1 2 "Jumanji (1995) - Box Office Mojo". boxofficemojo.com.
  2. 1 2 "Jumanji Author Getting Aboard Hollywood Express : Movies: Chris Van Allsburg says the film version of his book is like a Christmas gift. It's just not the one he was expecting.". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved December 23, 2010.
  3. ↑ "Field Marshal". Newsweek. Archived from the original on October 23, 2010. Retrieved December 22, 2010.
  4. ↑ "Jumanji (1995)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved July 3, 2009.
  5. ↑ "Jumanji". Rotten Tomatoes.
  6. ↑ "Jumanji". Metacritic.
  7. ↑ "Jumanji Box Shot for PlayStation 2 - GameFAQs". www.gamefaqs.com. Retrieved 2016-07-13.
  8. ↑ "'Jumanji' Reboot In The Works". Whatstrending.com. Archived from the original on October 24, 2013.
  9. ↑ Gallagher, Brian (August 1, 2012). "Jumanji Reboot Lands Producer Matthew Tolmach". Movieweb.com. Archived from the original on December 27, 2014.
  10. ↑ MacFarland, Joe (January 24, 2014). "The real, rare Jumanji game board". Ebay Stories Blog. EBay. Retrieved March 25, 2015.
  11. ↑ "Real & Rare -- JUMANJI board Screen-used (carry board) w/ COA signed by Johnston". EBay. January 25, 2014. Retrieved March 25, 2015.
  12. ↑
  13. ↑ "Sony Pictures Dates 16 Films Through 2019!". comingsoon.net. August 5, 2015. Retrieved August 5, 2015.
  14. ↑ Hanks, Henry. "They're remaking 'Jumanji,' and the Internet rage is real". CNN. Retrieved 14 October 2015.
  15. ↑ Pulver, Andrew. "'Is nothing sacred?': Twitter responds to news of Jumanji remake". The Guardian. Retrieved 14 October 2015.
  16. ↑ Mullins, Jenna. "People Are Livid About This Jumanji Remake, and We Don't Blame Them". E! News. Retrieved 14 October 2015.
  17. ↑ Faherty, Allanah. "Don't Worry Internet, Star of the Original 'Jumanji' Movie Doesn't Believe Sony Should Reboot the Film Either". Moviepilot. Retrieved 14 October 2015.
  18. ↑ Lesnick, Silas (January 14, 2016). "Jake Kasdan Will Direct the Jumanji Remake". Coming Soon.
  19. ↑ "Jumanji Remake now has a Director". Trailer Geek. January 14, 2016.
  20. ↑ Justin Kroll. "'Spider-Man,' 'Jumanji' Release Dates Set - Variety". Variety.
  21. ↑ "Dwayne Johnson Officially Boards Jumanji Remake". April 22, 2016.
  22. ↑ Justin Kroll. "Kevin Hart, Dwayne Johnson Circling 'Jumanji' Reimagining (EXCLUSIVE) - Variety". Variety.
  23. ↑ Jeff Sneider. "Jack Black in Talks to Join Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart in 'Jumanji' Reboot (Exclusive)". The Wrap.
  24. ↑ Mike Fleming Jr. "Nick Jonas In Talks To Join 'Jumanji' Movie". Deadline.
  25. ↑ Matthew Mueller. "The Rock Says New Jumanji Is Not A Reboot". Comicbook.com.
  26. ↑ Devan Coggan. "Dwayne Johnson calls new Jumanji a 'continuation,' not a reboot". Ew.com.
  27. ↑ "Instagram photo by @therock". August 30, 2016.
  28. ↑ McGloin, Matt (August 30, 2016). "KAREN GILLAN CAST IN DWAYNE JOHNSON'S JUMANJI". Cosmic Book News.
  29. ↑ https://www.instagram.com/p/BJ0j40XDw00/

External links

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