‘Stranger Than Fiction’ Writer Hired to Script Columbia’s New ‘Jumanji’

As we heard this past summer Columbia Pictures is working on a new adaptation of Chris Van Allsburg’s classic children’s book Jumanji. There’s no director attached to the project yet, but Sony has taken one smart step forward by landing Stranger Than Fiction writer Zach Helm to script the new take on the 1981 tale of kids who have to deal with the dangers of the jungle when the titular board game starts unleashing animals and more as they play. We’re not sure if this new take will be similar to Joe Johnston’s film from 1995, which departed quite a bit from the source material, or if it will be more faithful to the book. Helm’s script for Stranger Than Fiction is one of my favorites, however, his work on family films leaves something to be desired as he wrote Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium as well. The film wasn’t terrible, but …