Zathura: A Space Adventure (or Zathura) is a 2005 American science fiction adventure film directed by Jon Favreau and loosely based on the illustrated book Zathura by Chris Van Allsburg, author of Jumanji. The film stars Josh Hutcherson, Jonah Bobo, Dax Shepard, Kristen Stewart, and Tim Robbins.
The story revolves around brothers Walter and Danny Budwing (portrayed by Hutcherson and Bobo respectively), who play a mysterious board game they find in the basement of their house. The game teleports Walter, Danny, and their older sister Lisa (Stewart) into outer space where they encounter an astronaut (Shepard), who mentors the siblings on survival and finishing the game so they can return home.
The film was shot in Los Angeles and Culver City, California, and was released on November 11, 2005, by Columbia Pictures. Unlike the book, the film contains no Jumanji material and mentions no Jumanji events. The film was marketed as a spiritual successor with variations of the tagline, "A new adventure from the world of Jumanji". Despite positive reviews from critics, Zathura was a box office flop.
Video Zathura: A Space Adventure
Plot
Young brothers Walter and Danny do not get along with each other or their older sister, Lisa. The three siblings go to stay with their divorced father; while the father is away at work and Lisa is napping, Danny discovers an old space-themed board game called "Zathura" in the basement. He and Walter begin to play the game, whose goal is to become the first player to reach the final space named Zathura. During his turn, each player picks up one of the game's instruction cards. When a meteor shower from one of these game cards occurs outside, Walter and Danny realize playing the game has altered their reality.
The boys discover their father's house is floating on an asteroid near Saturn. Lisa, who is unaware of the situation, prepares for her date that evening. When the boys try to warn Lisa about what has happened, they find she is in cryonic sleep as a result of the game. They realize the only way to end the game and return to Earth is to reach the board's final space of Zathura. As they continue to play, Walter and Danny must overcome the dangers presented by the game cards, including the appearance of a defective robot and an attack on the house by a race of reptilian aliens called Zorgons. Another card produces an astronaut, who methodically eliminates the house's heat sources and lures the Zorgons' ship away with a burning couch.
Growing increasingly concerned, Walter accuses Danny of cheating by moving a piece prematurely; when Walter tries to move the piece back, the game reacts as though Walter is trying to cheat and ejects him from the house into the vacuum of space. Walter is rescued by the astronaut. On Walter's next turn, he receives a card that allows him to make a wish, and considers wishing Danny away. The astronaut warns Walter that he and his brother had played the game fifteen years before, and he had received the same card. He wished his brother away, causing him to be stuck in the game forever without a second player. Walter wishes for a new football instead and the brothers agree to work together to finish the game as quickly as possible.
Lisa awakens from her stasis, and unaware of the current events, turns up the heating. This causes the Zorgons to return and anchor their ships to the house. Lisa, the boys and the astronaut hide on the upper floor but have left the game downstairs. While Lisa develops romantic interest in the astronaut, Danny uses the house's dumbwaiter to retrieve the game. Danny gets the game aboard one of the ships, but is caught by the Zorgons. Walter uses the "Reprogram" card to get the self-repairing robot to attack the Zorgons, and the aliens retreat.
Walter receives another wish card; he uses it to bring back the astronaut's brother, who is doppelgänger of Danny. The astronaut reveals he is an older version of Walter whose role is to help the siblings finish the game based on his childhood memories. Danny and Walter interact with their counterparts, creating a temporal paradox that erases them from existence as the future changes.
The Zorgons return to the house with a large fleet, intending on destroying it. Danny makes a final move to land on Zathura and wins, creating a black hole that sucks up the Zorgon fleet and the house. The siblings awaken in the house as it was before the brothers started the game, just as their father arrives home. After they leave with their mother, Danny's bicycle, which had been orbiting their house, falls from the sky.
Maps Zathura: A Space Adventure
Cast
- Josh Hutcherson as Walter Budwing
- Dax Shepard as adult Walter Budwing / the Astronaut
- Jonah Bobo as Danny Budwing
- Kristen Stewart as Lisa Budwing
- Tim Robbins as Mr. Budwing
- John Alexander as Robot
- Frank Oz as the voice of Robot
- Derek Mears as Lead Zorgon
- Douglas Tait as Head Zorgon
- Jeff Wolfe as Master Zorgon
- Adam Wills as Captain Zorgon
Production
Director Jon Favreau preferred to use practical effects instead of Computer 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 by Stan Winston. It gives the actors, especially young actors, so much to work off of". Dax Shepard, who plays the astronaut, said he would not have been interested in doing the film if the effects had been CGI-based. Actor Kristen 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 "The only green screen I was ever involved with was for getting sucked out into the black hole."
Miniature models were used to create the spaceships; Favreau enjoyed using techniques used in many earlier films, such as the original Star Wars trilogy. 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. CGI was also 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. According to Pete Travers, Visual Effects Supervisor on the film for Sony Pictures Imageworks, retaining the stylized "1950s sci-fi look" from Van Allsburg's book "was a very important aspect of the effects".
Favreau discouraged the notion that the film is a sequel to the earlier Jumanji, having not particularly liked that film. Both he and author Chris Van Allsburg--who also wrote the book of the same name upon which Jumanji is based--stated Zathura is very different from Jumanji.
The soundtrack to the film is an original score by John Debney and is available on CD.
Release
The studio marketed the release of Zathura in an attempt to generate word of mouth with tie-ins, including an episode of The Apprentice. It was one of the last major films to be released on VHS.
Critical reception
The film received mostly positive reviews from critics; as of January 2018 it has a 75% "Certified Fresh" approval rating on review-aggregator Rotten Tomatoes. Stephen Holden of The New York Times said Zathura richly gratifies the fantasy of children; "not just to play a board game, but to project themselves into its world". Desson Thomson of The Washington Post wrote that Zathura has "an appealing, childlike sense of wonder".
The connection to Jumanji may have been a double-edged sword with critics and audiences, with one observer referring to it as "Jumanji in space without Robin Williams".
Box office
Despite generally positive reviews, Zathura was considered a flop, grossing $13,427,872 in its opening weekend; far behind Disney's Chicken Little, which opened the same weekend. The film lost 62% of its audience the following weekend, in part due to the opening of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Zathura ended its theatrical run with a gross of $29,258,869,, which was less than half its $65 million budget. The international box office total was $35,062,632, bringing its worldwide gross to $64,321,501 and nearly recouping its budget.
Related media
A board game that sought to mimic the film's eponymous game was released by Pressman Toy Corporation. Titled Zathura: 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.
See also
- Jumanji
- Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle
References
External links
- Zathura on IMDb
- Zathura at Box Office Mojo
- Zathura at Rotten Tomatoes
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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