It was revealed a little while ago by Columbia head Doug Belgrad that Sony was eyeing a possible reboot of Jumanji. The idea was meant with a shade of skepticism, but the plans to convert it into a live-action, animated hybrid made sense as that gimmick has proven successful with families over these past few years. The only question was whether the studio was definitely going to make this into a reality and today we have our answer.
Variety has broken the news today that Sony has hired The Amazing Spider-Man producer Matt Tolmach and brought back original producer William Teitler to get it done. In addition to those behind-the-scenes castings, they have also opted to bring back Ted Field who will be executive producing.
Bringing back the old team should not come as too big a surprise as the original Jumanji starring Robin Williams and Bonnie Hunt was a huge hit, grossing over a quarter of a billion in global box office revenue 17 years ago. The reason it did not get a sequel? Well, it was a different era where profit did not equate to an automatic follow-up. By today’s standards this seems pretty silly, but then again so were the 90′s.
All kidding aside, this looks like a big win for Sony as these types of cheaply-produced films tend to gross piles of money nowadays. Need I remind everyone that The Smurfs managed to make over $500 million worldwide despite being one of the most ill-received movies of 2011? Just remember, 10-year-olds do not read Rotten Tomatoes and that means big bucks for anyone willing to cater to their favorite sub-genre.