Sony Rolls The Dice On Jumanji Reboot

Studio also announces dates for Bad Boys sequels.

It's not been a great year for Sony. Heck it's been totally miserable. After the hack at the tail-end of 2014, the studio has endured a fruitless 2015 (how else do you describe a period in which Paul Blart 2 is your biggest hit?), culminating late last month with the collapse of its only summer tent-pole, Pixels. How does one respond to such misfortune? By announcing a kick-ass upcoming slate. Obviously. Variety reports the Sony are prepping a Jumanji reboot for next Christmas (gonna be a squeeze, but doable) alongside the Chris Pratt and Jennifer Lawrence sci-fi romance Passengers in the same window. They're also announcing two Bad Boys sequels for February 2017 and July 2019. 1996's Jumanji is a wonderful 90s adventure movie, with a great cast (including the late Robin Williams), hook and musical score. Topping the whole "hell in a board-game" concept will be tricky, especially in an era where kids don't play them anymore, but perhaps Zak Helm's (Stranger than Fiction) script has found a hip, hopefully not too much darker way of working around that. The project's been going through the development wringer since 2012, but this confident announcement suggest Sony have cracked the code, and we can look forward to stampeding animals ruining our festive decorations on December 12th 2016.
More tantalizing is a set date for Passengers. The epic sci-fi romance is working from a magnificent screenplay (script nerds, do yourself a favour and read it!) by John Spaihts, and has arranged a perfect quartet of actors to handle the drama. Pratt and Lawrence will play star-crossed lovers stranded in space, but those familiar with the story will know that Michael Sheen and Laurence Fishburne are awesome additions as a robot bar-keeper and third human presence respectively. Morten Tydlum's handling the shots on that one, and Sony are hoping for an awards level push come its bow on December 21st next year. If they do right by the screenplay, that's damned achievable.
It's safe to assume the Bad Boys sequel(s) are the same that Joe Carnahan was attached to write last month, but other than that, not much is clear. I personally don't have a great deal of affection for either of the original movies, but clearly Sony feels the brand still carries weight. Smith and Lawrence aren't confirmed, and if they don't factor in the plan, I struggle to see the point or base appeal. I'm ready to be proven wrong though. The full slate, including release dates for The Magnificent Seven, Dark Tower and Diablo Cody's Barbie (?), is visible here.
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Writer, cinephile and owner of Vampire's Kiss on DVD. Take from that what you will.