Jumanji, a film adaptation of the 1981 children’s book of the same title by Chris Van Allsburg, which premiered simultaneously in Nigeria, Ghana and Liberia on Friday December 22, 2017, has been drawing audiences to the cinemas across the three countries on a daily basis.
The high demand for the movie at the box office could be attributed to two reasons: It’s an interesting epic and adventurous remake of the 1995 work of the same title, and secondly, its release by Silverbird Film Distribution West Africa coincided with the Yuletide.
Starring Kevin Hart, Dwanye Johnson, Jack Black, Karen Gillan, Nick Jonas, Bobby Can, Jumanji was directed by Jack Kasdan and produced by David Housemholter, Jack Kasdan, Dwayne Johnson, Dany Gracia, Ted Field, and Mike Weser.
‘Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle’ turns the table as four teenagers in detention are sucked into the world of Jumanji. When they discover an old video game console with a game they’ve never heard of, they are immediately thrust into the game’s jungle setting, into the bodies of their avatars. What they discover is that, you don’t just play Jumanji – Jumanji plays you. They’ll have to go on the most dangerous adventure of their lives, or they’ll be stuck in the game forever…
According to the executive producer and actor, Dwayne Johnson, the spirit of the original Jumanji movie is maintained. “The strength of this movie lies in many fronts: from the real jungle setting, to exotic plot; from stunning stunts to badass humour; from mind blowing set designing to top of the world cast interpreting head-turning roles, you will simply swoon taking a cinematic dose of this magnificent motion picture wonder,” he said.
The movie’s treatment of characterization comes with such humongous space for self-expression, psychological exploration, and maintains a believable affinity with spiritual and physical realities, which many moviemakers find daunting to toy with. All the characters are evil with humour even when they seem to be innocently performing an action or verbally responding to a simple comments.
One would think that the characters would not be able to respond well because they are trapped in strange bodies. They respond uniquely and personally to the challenges of the roles. It’s not something easy to combine the seriousness of an action/adventure movie with the un-seriousness of comedy. Still, the movie is a comedy with plenty of kickass action.
“I love movies like this – I’ve always wanted to make a big adventure movie,” Kasdan, the director says.