You gotta assume this means CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE is awesome, right? Right??
The current power team of Dwayne Johnson and Kevin Hart, with the aforementioned film and a co-hosting gig at the MTV Movie Awards under their belt, may possibly star in Jake Kasdan’s remake of JUMANJI.
Scheduling these two is the biggest hurdle in locking them down, as they both have a gaggle of projects on their immediate docket. Rock looks like the surer bet, given that his RAMPAGE movie is likely not to shoot until next year (if at all), and could shoot this in between FAST 8 and the third season of BALLERS this fall. Hart, however, has got the prestige gig co-starring with Bryan Cranston in THE INTOUCHABLES later this year, and that might knock him out of contention.
No clue as to what characters the two would play, other than that one will probably be a big, bald, beefy tough-guy and one will be a diminutive, spazzy motormouth. Feel free to bet against me. Also, one presumes that one or both of them will have some sort of interaction with the titular board game at some point. I dunno. Just guessing. Who knows, maybe some animals might even show up.
Scott Rosenberg, an underrated writer who kicked off his career with the one-two-three punch of THINGS TO DO IN DENVER WHEN YOU’RE DEAD, BEAUTIFUL GIRLS, and CON AIR, is co-writing the script with ALIAS/LOST/FRINGE writer/producer Jeff Pinkner, and Kasdan’s got THE ZERO EFFECT, ORANGE COUNTY, and WALK HARD under his belt, so the above-the-line creative talent appears to be fairly rock-solid. Then again, Joe Johnston and Jonathan Hensleigh collabed on the first one, and I don't think anyone considers that the peak of either of their creative output
Now, if CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE doesn’t take off with audiences next month, the idea of another Johnson-Hart team-up will lose a lot of its luster, but on the flipside, if their chemistry sings and leaves folks wanting more, then all of a sudden this JUMANJI remake is looking like a pretty sexy proposition, commercially speaking. These guys have a ton of appeal to four-quadrant moviegoers, and have proven their skills with kid audiences (have you heard the response to Hart’s pooping bunny in the SECRET LIFE OF PETS trailers??), so instead of “They’re really remaking that Robin Williams movie?” the conversation shifts to, “Kevin Hart, Dwayne Johnson, and a shitload of animals?? Awesome!!”
But don’t expect them to follow the original’s plot of a kid being trapped in the game for 25 years. Neither of these guys look great with locks and a beard.
