| Zathura: A Space Adventure | |
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 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Jon Favreau |
| Screenplay by |
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| Based on | Zathura byChris Van Allsburg |
| Produced by |
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| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Guillermo Navarro |
| Edited by | Dan Lebental |
| Music by | John Debney |
Production companies |
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| Distributed by | Sony Pictures Releasing |
Release date |
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Running time | 101 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $65 million[1] |
| Box office | $65.1 million[1] |
Zathura: A Space Adventure (or simplyZathura) is a 2005 Americanscience fictionaction-adventure film directed byJon Favreau and written byDavid Koepp and John Kamps. It is an adaptation of the 2002 children's bookZathura byChris Van Allsburg, author of the 1981 children's bookJumanji. It is a standalonespin-off of the 1995 filmJumanji and the second installment of theJumanji franchise. The film starsJosh Hutcherson andJonah Bobo as two squabbling brothers who find a mysterious board game in the basement which transports their house into outer space, and must survive and finish the game in order to return home.Dax Shepard,Kristen Stewart, andTim Robbins are also among the cast.
Zathura was shot inLos Angeles andCulver City, California, and was released on November 11, 2005, in the United States bySony Pictures Releasing.[2] It received positive reviews from critics and grossed $65.1 million worldwide against a $65 million budget.
Ten-year-old Walter and six-year-old Danny are two brothers who do not get along with each other or their teenage sister, Lisa. While their father is away at work and Lisa is napping, Danny discovers an oldscience fiction-themed board game calledZathura in the basement. When he starts playing, the game produces a card that warns of ameteor shower.
After a meteor shower, Walter and Danny realize the game affects their reality as the house floats inouter space. Lisa, thinking she overslept due to the dark sky, prepares to go out but is put incryonic sleep, freezing her. The brothers learn that they must finish the game to return home and restore normalcy.
As they continue playing, Walter and Danny confront the dangers presented by the game, including a faulty robot, passing too close to a star, and an attack by a race of reptilian aliens known as Zorgons. During one of Danny's turns, an astronaut appears and instructs them to methodically eliminate the house's heat sources, since the Zorgons are attracted to heat. The astronaut distracts the Zorgons' ship by setting the couch on fire and ejecting it from the house, allowing them to follow it.
Walter demands that the astronaut leave, but Danny lets him stay. Growing increasingly agitated, Walter accuses Danny of cheating by moving his piece when Walter wasn't looking. When he tries to push the piece back and takes his next turn, the game reacts as if Walter was cheating and ejects him from the house, but the astronaut rescues him.
Danny apologizes to Walter, but Walter does not forgive him. On Walter's next turn, he draws a card that grants him a wish, sparking another heated argument between the boys. The astronaut cautions Walter not to make a wish out of anger. Fearing the worst, the astronaut checks on Danny but initially cannot find him until Danny presents himself and learns that Walter simply wished for an autographed American football. The brothers question the astronaut, who explains his origins, revealing that he and his own younger brother had played the game before. He had landed on the wish card, and after an escalating fight, he wished his brother had never been born. This left him stranded, as he couldn't finish the game without the second player. Upon hearing this, Danny and Walter finally set aside their differences.
Lisa awakens from her stasis and turns up the heat, still unaware of the situation. The Zorgons return and dock their ships at the house. Lisa finally realizes the predicament, and the quartet hides, only to discover they have left the game behind. Danny finds the game aboard one of the Zorgon ships, but is spotted by the Zorgons. When the robot begins to attack the brothers, Walter uses a "Reprogram" card he had drawn earlier to fix the robot, which then turns on the Zorgons, causing them to retreat.
Walter receives another wish card and uses it to bring back the astronaut's brother, who turns out to be Danny. This reveals that the astronaut is an older version of Walter from an alternate timeline. The astronaut praises his present self for making a better choice than he did. As the timeline shifts, he and the alternate Danny merge with their counterparts.
The Zorgons return to the house with a large fleet, intent on destroying it. When Danny wins the game, it's revealed that Zathura is ablack hole that consumes the Zorgons' fleet and the house. The siblings find themselves back in the house before starting the game, just as their father returns home. The brothers finally bond and promise each other and Lisa not to tell anyone about the game and their adventure.
Additionally, John Alexander performed the Robot,Derek Mears performed the Lead Zorgon, andDouglas Tait, Joe Bucaro, and Jeff Wolfe portray the individual Zorgons.
DirectorJon Favreau acknowledged the influence of other films, sayingZathura had some bits likeStar Wars,Indiana Jones,Battle Beyond the Stars, andSuperman.[3] Favreau was aware ofDax Shepard from the television seriesPunk'd, but was convinced to cast him because directorMike Judge cast him inIdiocracy and because of his background in improvisation withthe Groundlings thatWill Ferrell, star of the Favreau-helmedElf, had also come out of.[3]
Favreau preferred to use practical effects instead ofcomputer generated imagery (CGI) in the film. He said, "it's so fun to actually shoot real spaceships or have a real robot running around on the set, or real Zorgons built byStan Winston. It gives the actors, especially young actors, so much to work off of".[4][5] Shepard said he would not have been interested in doing the film if the effects had been CGI-based.[6] ActressKristen Stewart enjoyed the on-set effects, saying, "When we harpooned walls and ripped them out, we were really doing it. When there was a fire on set, there was really fire," and that "[t]he only green screen I was ever involved with was for getting sucked out into the black hole."[7] The exteriors for the house were filmed at Oaklawn Avenue, South Pasadena.[8][9]
Miniature models were used to create the spaceships; Favreau enjoyed using techniques used in many earlier films, such as theStar Wars trilogy.[10] in some shots the Zorgon ships were computer-generated, and in many of the scenes digital effects were used to create, for example, meteors and planets, and limbs for the robot suit built by Stan Winston Studios.[11] CGI was used to augment the Zorgon suits, which were constructed so that the head came out of the front of the suit where the actor's chest was and the actor wore a blue screen hood over his own head, and to create an entirely computer-generated Zorgon for one scene.[12] A full life size frozen model of Kristen Stewart was made by Stan Winston Studios. She described the process of modeling and being scanned to make it as arduous; it included details down to the freckles on her arm. She called the result an incredible experience, comparing it to having a twin.[10][13] Real goats were used and extra eyes were later added using CGI.[14] According to visual effects supervisor Pete Travers, fromSony Pictures Imageworks, it "was a very important aspect of the effects" to retain the stylized "1950s sci-fi look" from Van Allsburg's book, and was inspired by thepointillist style in painting.[11][15]
Favreau says the most complicated shot in the film was when the house was caught in the gravity field of Tsouris-3. The stage was mounted on top of agimbal 30 to 40 feet (9.1 to 12.2 m) off the ground, and the gimbal allowed the set to be tilted close to 40 degrees. All the cast and crew had to be safely secured with cables and harnesses. Favreau called it "an overwhelming experience".[16]
Favreau discouraged the notion that the film is a sequel to the 1995 filmJumanji, having not particularly liked the film. Both he and authorChris Van Allsburg—who also wrote the book upon whichJumanji is based—statedZathura: A Space Adventure is very different from theJumanji film.[17] The film was marketed by the studio as taking place within the same fictional universe, and series actorJack Black considers it the second installment of theJumanji franchise.[18][19] Van Allsburg attributed the lack of box office success to marketing and timing.[20]
The studio marketed the release of the film in an attempt to generateword of mouth with tie-ins, including an episode ofThe Apprentice. Favreau appeared as a guest judge, and the show's two teams were assigned the task of designing and building afloat to publicize the film.[21]Favreau attendedComic Con for the first time to promote the film.[22]
The film was released on VHS and DVD on February 14, 2006,[23] and a Blu-ray 10th Anniversary edition was released in 2015.[24]
Zathura: A Space Adventure grossed $13.4 million in its opening weekend,[25] while the holdover Disney animated film,Chicken Little earned more than twice as much that weekend.[26] The film lost 62% of its audience the following weekend, in part due to the opening ofHarry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.[27]Zathura ended its theatrical run with an domestical gross of $29.2 million.[1] The international box office total was $35.8 million bringing its total worldwide gross to $65 million.[1]
OnRotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 77% based on 159 reviews. The website's critical consensus reads, "Dazzling special effects for the kids + well-crafted storytelling for the 'rents = cinematic satisfaction for the whole family."[28] OnMetacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 67 out of 100, based on reviews from 30 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[29] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale, the lowest in the series.[30]
Roger Ebert of theChicago Sun-Times gave it 3 out of 4 stars, praised Favreau, and wrote: "Zathura lacks the undercurrents of archetypal menace and genuine emotion [...] but it works gloriously as space opera."[31] Justin Chang ofVariety said it was "arguably the best adaptation of a Chris Van Allsburg book to date" and praised "Favreau's amiably low-key sense of humor and assured handling of well-trod emotional territory."[32] John DeFore ofThe Hollywood Reporter called it a "rare beast -- a family film that even childless adults can enjoy", and praised the performances ofJosh Hutcherson,Jonah Bobo, and Shepard.[33] Stephen Holden ofThe New York Times saidZathura richly gratifies the fantasy of children; "not just to play a board game, but to project themselves into its world".[34] Desson Thomson ofThe Washington Post wrote thatZathura has "an appealing, childlike sense of wonder".[35]
The connection toJumanji may have been a disadvantage, with critics such as Luke Baumgarten for theInlander referring to it as "Jumanji in space withoutRobin Williams".[36]
Zathura: A Space Adventure was nominated at the32nd Saturn Awards for Best Fantasy Film, and Best Performance by a Younger Actor for Hutcherson.[37]
At theHollywood Film Awards Avy Kaufman won the award for Casting Director of the Year, for her work on the film and alsoCapote,Brokeback Mountain,Get Rich or Die Tryin', andSyriana.[38]AtYoung Artist Awards Josh Hutcherson won in the category "Best Performance in a Feature Film (Comedy or Drama)" by a Leading Young Actor, and Jonah Bobo was nominated in the category "Best Performance in a Feature Film" by a Young Actor Age Ten or Younger.[39][40]
In a 2018 review forDen of Geek, Tim George called it "a terrific movie worthy of reappraisal" praising the witty, efficient script, sense of directorial whimsy, and focus on character over special effects.[41]
Favreau said the film wasn't released so much as it "escaped". He further described the experience: "After the highs of the success of [his previous film]Elf,Zathura was sobering and, though it was well-received by the critics and I learned a tremendous amount about visual effects, the grim reality of the movie business hit me like a bucket of cold water."[22]
Jack Black, who starred in later installments of theJumanji franchise, has expressed interest in the possibility of aZathura remake or sequel.[42]Hiram Garcia, a producer of theJumanji sequels, said the game contained multiple universes and that the Bazaar introduced in the 2017 filmWelcome to the Jungle was added to be a central hub for a larger game universe that the core characters would not know about and that it could even go into space.[43]
Although the film is based on the 2002 illustrated children's bookZathura, several other tie-in books were released, including a novelizationZathura: The Movie – Junior Novel[44] as well as several other activity and play books.[45]
A board game that sought to mimic the film's eponymous game was released byPressman Toy Corporation. TitledZathura: Adventure is Waiting, the game incorporated a spring-driven, clockwork card delivery mechanism, an astronaut, the Zorgons, the haywire robot and the disintegrating house in various ways.[46]
A video-game tie-in was released on November 3, 2005, developed byHigh Voltage Software and published by2K Games forPlayStation 2 andXbox.[47] The games received "generally unfavorable reviews".[48][49]
Zathura is somewhat of a sequel to Jumanji.
despite a direct hit from Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire next weekend.
had the same target audience as Harry Potter but didn't gain enough traction in its first weekend to withstand the wizard's blow.
Jumanji in space, but not as good.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: publisher location (link)
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