10 Things You Didn't Know About Jumanji

10. The Origin Of The Movie

Money is power. That's not just a fancy quote wealthy executives have framed on their office walls, it's also the theme of classic family board game Monopoly, and the only real lesson players learn after hours of playing with siblings or friends.

It was this concept that inspired the creation of Jumanji. As a young man, Jumanji author Christopher Van Allsburg would sit through many a game of Monopoly, growing to despise it for the greedy lifestyle it inspired, and the lack of any real stakes.

In his mind, Van Allsburg wondered what would happen if players who were sent to jail within the game, actually found themselves locked up in a prison cell, stuck in limbo until they roll a double.

Speaking to Scholastic, Van Allsburg went on to discuss this idea further:

“I thought it would be fun and exciting if there were such a thing as a game board where wherever you landed on a square and it said something was going to happen, then it would really happen."

And so, as an antithesis to Monopoly, Jumanji was born.