Jumanji

Jumanji is an adventure/suspense movie from 1995 starring Robin Williams, Kirsten Dunst, Bonnie Hunt, Bradley Pierce, David Alan Greer, and Jonathan Hyde. The film is based off a wildly popular Chris Van Allsberg book of the same name from 1981.

Jumanji is the name of a secret board game uncovered by 2 children 25 years before the main events of the story. Jumanji turns out to be magical and brings real jungle creatures to life to challenge the players until they can complete the game. Young Alan Shepherd makes the mistake of rolling a move that gets him sucked into the world inside.

When the story resumes, 2 other children have discovered the game and begin to play. Alan is returned to Earth by their rolls, and decides to help the kids finish the treacherous play-through. This time to hide the game once and for all. Although he is hardened by his experiences inside the board, Alan finds his original partner, Sarah Wittle, to play again and she reminds him of the boy he once was.

Despite mixed responses from critics, the film exploded at the box office earning a cool $262,797,249 internationally on only a 65 million dollar budget. It stands out as another successful algorithm from the Robin Williams hit making machine.

Jumanji initiated a spin-off cartoon series shortly after the film’s success. The show ran for 3 seasons but was poorly received. A spiritual successor to the film, Zathura, came out in 2005. It was highly rated but a box office bomb.

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