Jumanji Remake To Be Directed By Bad Teacher's Jake Kasdan

The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed Sony has hired Jake Kasdan to direct their Jumanji remake.

The Jumanji remake is said to re-imagine Chris Van Allsburg's 1981 children's book, in which the original film starring Robin Williams, Bonnie Hunt and Kirsten Dunst, was loosely-based on. Like in the film, the book features a jungle-oriented board game that comes to life, but many of the adult characters, like Williams' Alan Parrish were invented for the film. There was no backstory involving a boy being trapped in the game for over 2 decades. It's a much simpler tale about Judy and Peter finding the game and playing it until completion.

Jake is the son of screenwriter Lawrence Kasdan (Star Wars: The Force Awakens) and served as a consulting producer and director on Judd Apatow's Freaks and Geeks television series. He's directed six feature films: Zero Effect (1998), Orange County (2002), The TV Set (2007), Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story (2007), Bad Teacher (2011) and Sex Tape (2014).

The script is being written by Scott Rosenberg, who is best known for penning Con Air, Gone in 60 Seconds and Kangaroo Jack.

It is scheduled to open Christmas Day this year, but production will have to hustle to meet that deadline.