Will Zathura 2 Ever Happen?
While nothing has officially been greenlit, we believe it's likely that Zathura 2 will happen at some point.
You might not remember this dazzling space adventure starring Kristen Stewart just before her Twilight years and Dax Shepard in one of his earliest film roles. Zathura was the 2005 critically acclaimed sequel to Jumanji, but it was not a theatrical success. Now, almost twenty years after it became a box office bomb, fans of the newly rejuvenated Jumanji franchise are wondering if we will ever get a Zathura 2, and the answer is… Maybe.
Long before the Jack Black, Dwayne Johnson, Karen Gillan, and Kevin Hart-led Jumanji sequel appeared in theaters in 2017, Zathura: A Space Adventure was taking kids on intergalactic adventures through a film praised for its stunning special effects and directed by one of the MCU’s favorite guys, Jon Favreau.
Based on the children’s book, Zathura, written by Chris Van Allsburg as the literary sequel to his book Jumanji, the film follows two brothers as they play a magical board game that hurls their house into space. Likely, if a Zathura 2 is made, it will follow the same magical-but-dangerous game template that the first film and the Jumanji movies do.
Zathura follows three siblings who don’t get along and are stuck at home while their father is out. Walter and Danny (played by a young Josh Hutcherson and Jonah Bobo) begin playing an old science fiction board game they found in the basement, while their sister Lisa (Stewart) takes a nap. Much like the 1995 Robin Williams classic (and probably in Zathura 2 as well), the events in the board game begin to alter reality, shooting their house into space and causing things like meteor showers and alien attacks.
While it’s been nearly 20 years since Zathura hit theaters, and while it was quickly overshadowed at the box office by contemporary movies like Chicken Little and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, fans are ready to see the franchise rebooted with a Zathura 2. And, the new faces of the Jumanji franchise, Dwane Johnson and Jack Black, are ready to make it happen. In fact, Giant Freakin Robot exclusively reported in December that Johnson was in the process of making a sequel transpire.
Although there haven’t been many details released on what Johnson’s vision for Zathura 2 looks like, the sequel would likely tie in the new Jumanji movies with the Zathura board game. Whether that means making the retro sci-fi game a video game like the Jumanji sequels did or coming up with a different type of twist, we’ll have to wait and see. But whatever the powers that be end up doing, they will most likely combine Zathura and Jumanji to make one complete franchise.
It’s also too soon to tell if Johnson is planning on keeping the same cast for Zathura 2. Since it was released in 2005, Stewart went on to become an A-list actor after playing Bella in the Twilight series, Shepard has become a big Hollywood player and podcast host, and Hutcherson also bagged a franchise, playing Peeta Mellark in The Hunger Games series with Jennifer Lawrence. All would be highly marketable actors that would be great to reboot a series with.
However, there’s always the possibility that the new Jumanji cast could be involved in Zathura 2 as well. Black has expressed interest in bringing the Jumanji world to space, and Johnson likely has the charm to sway Gillan and Hart over to the dark side as well.
But with Zathura 2 actually happen? With Johnson interested in producing a sequel, and with the success of the Jumanji reboot, it seems likely. However, The Rock has a pretty full schedule and who knows how high this space adventure is on his list of priorities.
Johnson’s IMDb shows seven upcoming projects on his plate, four of which are currently in development and have not yet started filming, and that doesn’t even list a few officially announced projects currently sitting in the early pre-development stages, like the Moana live-action movie where The Rock will reprise his role as Maui. With so much going on, Johnson heading Zathura 2 seems more like a dream than a reality. However, that doesn’t mean it won’t actually happen.
As an A-list actor with 33 producer credits to his name (and 12 more in progress), Johnson seems like the type of guy who achieves the things he sets out to do. So, as long as Zathura 2 gets greenlit by Sony Pictures (they’re the ones who own the rights), then it seems like the long-awaited space adventure sequel isn’t just a possibility, but something that is very likely to happen.
