It’s been a long time coming, but Sony’s long-rumored Jumanji redo is beginning to gain some serious momentum.
Much of that fresh blood can be traced back to the addition of Dwayne Johnson – hey, they don’t call him franchise viagra for nothing – who is attached to the fantasy reboot opposite Central Intelligence co-star Kevin Hart and Jack Black, who found success in Sony’s big-screen rendition of Goosebumps last year.
Now, Deadline brings word that Nick Jonas is the latest star to enter negotiations, but stopped short of disclosing which role the singer-songwriter is in contention for. All we know for sure is that Jake Kasdan is the filmmaker at the helm, directing from a script by Scott Rosenberg and Jeff Pinkner who were brought in to fine-tune the original treatment penned by Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers.
It will, of course, draw inspiration from Chris Van Allsburg’s beloved Jumanji novel, and those fearing that Sony’s 2018 reboot will tarnish the memory left by the incomparable Robin Williams, don’t fret; Dwayne Johnson vowed to honor the character of Alan Parrish:
“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,” said the actor. “I have an idea of what to do and I think his family will be proud.”
Sony is set to unleash Jumanji upon the moviegoing masses on July 28, 2017. We’ll keep you posted as it nears a production start.