Last month,Dwayne Johnsonrevealed that production will begin this fall on Sony Pictures’Jumanjiremake, which he is set to both star in and produce. The actor is possibly reuniting with hisCentral Intelligenceco-starKevin Hart, and while no other cast members have been announced quite yet, that will change soon.The Rocktook to his Instagram page once again today, revealing a new photo of the actor reading the originalJumanjibook byChris Van Allsburg. He goes onto reveal new details about this project, and how he plans to honor originalJumanjistar, the lateRobin Williams.
In a lengthy post onInstagram,Dwayne Johnsonexplains that he recently met with directorJake Kasdanand producerMatt Tolmachto work on theJumanji remake. We still don’t know anything about whoDwayne Johnson and Kevin Hartare playing yet, but the story follows a 12-year-old boy trapped in a board game back in 1969 who is released 45 years later. The actor shared a touching story about the first time he metRobin Williams, who passed away in August 2014, while revealing that he plans to honor the late actor’s original character, Alan Parrish, in this reboot. Here’s what The Rock had to say.
“And the #JUMANJI magic begins. Excellent meeting with our directorJake Kasdan, producerMatt 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 writerChris Van Allsburg’s source material ofJumanji.Chrisalso wroteThe Polar Express(later adapted byRobert ZemeckisandTom 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. An important thing that I want to be honest and bring up isRobin 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 ofJumanjiin an earnest and cool way. I have an idea of what to do and I think his family will be proud. I also thinkRobinis 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. We got a great team assembled already over at our home base of SONY and now we build from here. Here’s another fun part… 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.”
Dwayne Johnsonwas originally going to shootRampagethis fall, afterBaywatchandFast & Furious 8, but that video game adaptation was pushed into 2017, giving the actor an opening in his schedule to shootJumanjithis fall. The actor is also attached to star inSan Andreas 2and a remake ofBig Trouble in Little China, but it isn’t known when those projects will move forward. Sony Pictures has already set aJuly 28, 2017release, which is currently the only movie slated to open on that date. It will debut a week afterChristopher Nolan’sDunkirk, EuropaCorp’sValerian and the City of a Thousand Planetsand 20th Century Fox’sThe Story of Ferdinand.
Jake Kasdan, best known for comedies likeSex Tape,Bad TeacherandWalk Hard, is directingJumanjifrom a script byScott RosenbergandJeff Pinkner, who rewrote an early draft byChris McKennaandErik Sommers.Matt Tolmachis producing alongsideWilliam Teitler, withTed Field,Mike Weberand authorChris Van Allsburgexecutive producing. Take a look atDwayne Johnson’s Instagram photo, and stay tuned for more onJumanji.
