Zathura (2005)

Zathura is a 2005 American science fiction adventure film directed by Jon Favreau. It is an adaptation of the 2001 children's book Zathura by Chris Van Allsburg, author of the 1981 children's book Jumanji. It is a standalone spin-off of the 1995 film Jumanji and the second installment of the Jumanji franchise. The film stars Josh Hutcherson, Jonah Bobo, Dax Shepard, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Tim Robbins.
The story is about two squabbling brothers, Danny and Walter Budwing (portrayed by Bobo and Hutcherson, respectively) who find a mysterious board game that releases a robot who befriends Danny and discover the game can transport their house into outer space. Along with their older sister Lisa (Winstead) and an astronaut (Shepard), they try to survive the game so they can return home. 
== Synopsis ==
Brothers Walter (Josh Hutcherson) and Danny (Jonah Bobo) can never seem to get along with each other, or with their older cantankerous teen-aged sister, Lisa (Mary Elizabeth Winstead). While staying at their divorced father's home while he is away at work and Lisa is asleep, Danny discovers an old clockwork-driven space-themed board Game named "Zathura" that lets out a robot named "Zilo '' in the basement. Zilo than awakes and gives a friendly meeting to Danny and wants to be his loyal devoted friend no matter what and goes after Walter as revenge for putting him in the basement on purpose, and when he stops attacking him by Danny and says he can entertain them at home while keeping Zilo secret from their dad, and soon their sister finds out as well. 
After knocking his brother Walter out by accident, Danny then finds an old board game in the box he summoned Zilo from and he and Walter begin to play the game, the goal to be the first one of two players to reach the black planet (The Black Hole). During each turn, the game provides a card that pops out with instructions, but the two quickly realize the cards affect reality. They soon discover the house is floating on a small rock in outer space. Meanwhile, Lisa looks out the window, and believing it is merely dark, goes to shower for her date. When the two brothers try to warn Lisa about what has happened, they find she is frozen in cryonic sleep as a result of one of the cards. Danny and Walter soon realize that the only way to end the game and hopefully return to Earth is to reach the end of Zathura.
As they continue to play, Walter and Danny overcome the dangers presented by the game, including the appearance of a defective cyborg robot, passing too close to a star, and an attack on the house by a race of reptilian aliens called Zorgons. One of Danny's turns causes an astronaut to appear, who methodically eliminates the house's heat sources, as the Zorgons are attracted to heat, The astronaut lures the Zorgons' ship away by setting their couch on fire and ejecting it from the house, allowing them to follow it.
Walter demands that the astronaut leave, but Danny chooses to let him stay. Growing increasingly agitated, Walter than accuses Danny of cheating making them to argue and causing Danny to almost pounce on him until the astronaut stops them and Walter than takes his turn and receives a human rejection card that ejects him from the house, but the astronaut rescues him. 
After Danny's turn, Walter than receives a gold card that allows him to make a wish, resulting in another heated argument between the boys, with Danny getting mad saying he wished he never had a brother like Walter, than the shooting star than appears. The astronaut warns Walter not to make a wish out of anger. Fearing the worst, the astronaut discovers that Walter merely wished for an autographed American football. With he kids questioned the astronaut on why he was being so protective and he explained his origins, revealing that he and his own brother had played the game before. He landed on the wish card, but after an escalating fight, he wished his brother had never existed. This resulted in him being stranded, as he was unable to finish the game without the second player. Upon hearing this, Danny and Walter finally put their differences aside.
Lisa awakened from her stasis and turned up the heat, still oblivious to the situation. The Zorgons return and anchor their ships to the house. She finally discovers the predicament, and the quartet hide, only to realize they have left the game behind. Zilo than finds the game aboard one of the Zorgon ships but is spotted by the Zorgons. Than gets injured by a crash in the basement, Walter than uses a "Reprogram" card he had drawn earlier to fix Zilo, which attacks the bigger Robot instead, causing it to retreat and blast off. 
After Walters turn, Danny receives a wish card himself, and he uses it to bring the astronaut's brother back into existence. The astronaut reveals he is actually an older version of Danny from an alternate timeline and commends his past self for making a better choice than he did. The astronaut and the alternate Walter merge with their counterparts as the timeline changes. 
The Zorgons return to the house with a large fleet, with intent to destroy it. When Danny ends up winning the game, it is revealed that Zathura is a black hole, which proceeds to consume the Zorgons' fleet and the house. The kids find themselves back in the house as it was before when they first started the game, just as their father returns home. The brothers finally bond, and they promise to each other and Lisa to not tell anyone about the game and their adventure.
== Cast ==
* Josh Hutcherson as Walter
* Jonah Bobo as Danny
* Mary Elizabeth Winsted as Lisa
* Dax Shepard as The Astronaut (older Danny)
* Tim Robbins as Dad
* TBA as (the voice of Zilo)
* Frank Oz as (the voice of the Robot) 
== Production ==
Director Jon Favreau acknowledged the influence of other films saying Zathura had some bits like Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Battle Beyond the Stars, and Superman. Favreau was aware of Dax Shepard from the TV series Punk'd but was convinced to cast him because Mike Judge put him in Idiocracy and because of his background in improvisation with The Groundlings that Will Ferrell had also come out of.
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. Actress Mary Elizabeth Winstead 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." The exteriors for the house were filmed at Oaklawn Avenue, South Pasadena.
== Trivia ==
* Mary Elizabeth Winstead is only four years older than Josh Hutcherson.
* Kristen Stuart was originally gonna play Lisa in the film but got cast in Sky High which released the same year so she ask Mary to replace her in the film instead.
* Mary Elizabeth Winstead admitted she was disturbed to see the life-size replica made of her for the scenes where Lisa is frozen.
* Jonah Bobo lost 4 teeth during filming, so the filmmakers made him fake teeth.
* A child actor was used to be inside of the Zilo robot suit while TBA provided the voice for Zilo.
* Originally conceived as a direct sequel to Jumanji (1995). The visual effects supervisor on that film, Ken Ralston, was lined up to direct before Columbia abandoned the project in favor of adapting Zathura.
* In every Chris Van Allsburg book, there is a bull terrier named Fritz. Jon Favreau put Fritz in the movie - look for a Beanie Baby bull terrier behind Walter near the end of the movie.
* Filmed in the same house that would later be used in Disturbia (2007).
* Near the beginning of the film, Tim Robbins walks into Mary Elizabeth Winstead's room. When he walks in, a "Tenacious D" poster can be seen behind him on the wall. Tim Robbins starred in the film "Tenacious D and the Pick of Destiny" a year later.
* The kid who played Zilo in the robot suit actually can move and dance mechically like a robot in a fascinating way that brought in the idea for Jon Favreau to cast him as Zilo in the movie. 
== Release ==
Favreau discouraged the notion that the film is a sequel to the 1995 film Jumanji, having not particularly liked the film. Both he and author Chris Van Allsburg—who also wrote the book upon which Jumanji is based—stated Zathura is very different from Jumanji. The film was marketed by the studio as taking place within the same fictional universe, and series actor Jack Black considers it the second installment of the Jumanji franchise next to the 2015 film Fairly which is the third installment. Author Chris Van Allsburg attributed the lack of box office success to marketing and timing.
The studio marketed the release of the film in an attempt to generate word of mouth with tie-ins, including an episode of The Apprentice. Favreau appeared as a guest judge, and the show's two teams were assigned the task of designing and building a float to publicize the film. Favreau attended Comic Con for the first time to promote the film. 
The film was released on VHS and DVD in 2006, and a Blu-ray 10th Anniversary edition was released in 2015 along side Jumanji and Fairly.
== Box Office ==
With its $65 million budget, Zathura was considered a flop, grossing $13,427,872 in its opening weekend, while the holdover Disney animated film, Chicken Little earned more than twice as much that 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. The international box office total was $35,820,235, bringing its total worldwide gross to $65,079,104. 
== Gallery ==
File:Zathura DVD Menu.jpg|Zathura (2005) DVD menu
File:Zilo (2005) Danny and Chloe Discover their in Space.jpg|Zathura (2005) Danny and Walter Discover their in Space
File:Zilo Clips Zorgons.jpg|Zathura (2005) The Zorgons Arrive Scene
File:Zathura Board Game Zathura (2005).jpg|Zathura Board Game (2005)