Sci-Fi Spin-Off Movie Bombed Thanks To Harry Potter Finally A Success On Netflix

By Jonathan Klotz
| Published 36 seconds ago

It took Jumanji 14 years to go from award-winning children’s book to the big screen. Author/illustrator Chris Van Allsburg’s sci-fi follow up Zathura was optioned from the moment it hit bookstores in 2002. By 2005 movie audiences were exploring the galaxy in a flying house. Or they would have been, if anyone had seen it in theaters, which, they didn’t. Zathura suffered from one of the worst release dates of the 2000s thanks to Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, but today it can be enjoyed on Netflix without one of the most successful franchises in history competing for your attention. 

Jumanji IN SPPPPAAAAACCCCEEEEE

Zathura is the forgotten film in the Jumanji franchise. It opens like all the rest though, two young brothers, Walter(Future Hunger Games star Josh Hutcherson) and Danny (Jonah Bobo) find a mysterious board game, start playing, and realize it’s shaping reality around them. Instead of Robin Williams turning up, the kids get Dax Shepard as an astronaut lost in space, and instead of a crazy old hunter, they have to deal with the lizard-like Zorgons. A pre-Twilight Kristen Stewart plays Lisa, the boys’ older sister who gets dragged along for the adventure after sleeping in. 

Even though the entire movie is centered around the house spaceship, Favreau found ways to make Zathura visually interesting, surprisingly for the time, by using practical effects over CGI. That includes multiple miniature models for the spaceships, a full-sized replica of a frozen Kristen Stewart, and the impractical decision to film the house falling into a gravity well by actually tilting the set 40 degrees straight down. With all of the performers on it. The result is a movie that looks amazing even today. 

Robert Pattinson Vs. Kristen Stewart

The story of Zathura isn’t as good as the original Jumanji, but it’s not bad. An obvious moral and writing that decides to turn subtext into text is perfectly acceptable for a film meant for children. The problem with the movie was it was released on November 11, 2005. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire was released on November 18, 2005. Which movie do you think kids wanted to see? 

Ironically, the dueling release dates means that prior to changing pop culture forever, Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson went head-to-head at the box office. Goblet of Fire made $900 million, Zathura made $64 million. In this case the release date and box office mean so much to the film because if people watched it, they’d realize it’s a fun movie.

Zathura Is Ready For A Remake

The success of the Jumanji sequels with Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart, Karen Gillan, and Jack Black has started talks about a potential Zathura remake. Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle’s bazaar hinted at a larger world of interconnected boardgame universes which could be the perfect setup to return the franchise to space. 

By flipping the Jumanji formula to be avatars in a reality-warping video game instead of kids playing a board game, the franchise found a whole new level of success that lets them use major Hollywood stars as a way to appeal to kids and adults. For everything Zathura did right, Dax Shepard is no Robin Williams. Jumanji in space is a great concept that today, would find the right audience and be another in a string of hits for the revitalized franchise.

Zathura is now streaming on Netflix.