Jack Black is in talks to star alongside Dwayne Johnson and Kevin Hart in Sony’s “Jumanji” reboot, TheWrap has learned.
Jake Kasdan is directing the big-budget adaptation of Chris Van Allsburg’s 1981 book, which is being produced by Matt Tolmach and William Teitler. Van Allsburg will serve as an executive producer along with Johnson, Dany Garcia, Ted Field and Mike Weber.
The reboot was written by Scott Rosenberg and Jeff Pinkner, based on a draft by the original writers Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers.
Production is expected to start in August in Hawaii, as Sony is slated to release “Jumanji” on July 28, 2017.
Robin Williams starred in the original 1995 “Jumanji” along with Kirsten Dunst, David Alan Grier, Bonnie Hunt, Jonathan Hyde and Bebe Neuwirth.
Black recently starred in Sony’s “Goosebumps,” one of several successful family comedies on the actor’s resume along with “School of Rock” and the “Kung Fu Panda” series. He’s represented by WME and Sloane, Offer, Weber & Dern.
Later Wednesday afternoon, Johnson confirmed the casting in an enthusiastic Instagram post, saying: “IT’S OFFICIAL: An ol’ friend is ready to play in the world of #JUMANJI… JACK (mf’n) BLACK.”
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For the record: A previous version of this story incorrectly listed the producer and executive producer credits.