October 24, 2015 - 11:08 AMT
"Con Air" scribe to pen "Jumanji" remake

"Jumanji" remake is on track for Christmas 2016 release. Scott Rosenberg, the writer behind "Gone in 60 Seconds" and "Con Air", has been tapped to do a rewrite on the script to the 1995 hit remake.

Sony is putting the project into priority, AceShowbiz reports citing Deadline. Jeff Pinkner, who worked on "Lost" and with Rosenberg on CBS' "Zoo" is brought in as consultant to the "Jumanji" redo.

Although the remake will return to the source material that inspired the 1995 film, it would be re-imagined to the present time. Columbia Pictures president Douglas Belgrad previously told THR, "We're going to try and reimagine Jumanji and update it for the present."

The original movie, based on a book by Chris Van Allsburg, follows 12-year-old Alan Parrish, who becomes trapped in a board game while playing with his best friend Sarah Whittle in 1969. Twenty-six years later, siblings Judy and Peter Shepherd find the game and begin playing and then unwittingly release the now-adult Alan. After tracking down Sarah, the quartet resolve to finish the game in order to undo all of the destruction it has caused.

"Stranger Than Fiction" scribe Zach Helm turned down the chance at the "Jumanji" remake script.