Zathura: A Space Adventure

Walter and Danny are two brothers who do not get along with each other or with their teenage sister, Lisa. While their divorced father is away at work and Lisa, whom he left in charge, is napping, Danny discovers an old science fiction–themed board game called Zathura in the basement. When he starts playing, the game produces a card that warns of a meteor shower. After an actual meteor shower occurs in the living room, Walter and Danny realize the game is affecting reality.

The boys discover the house is floating in outer space. Lisa thinks she has overslept because of the dark sky and is preparing to go out; however, the next card puts her in cryonic sleep, leaving her frozen solid. Walter and Danny learned that they must finish the game to get back home and return everything to normal.

As they continue to play, Walter and Danny overcome the dangers presented by the game, including the appearance of a defective 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 the boys' 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 accuses Danny of cheating by moving his piece prematurely; when he tries to move the piece back and takes his next turn, the game reacts as if Walter were cheating and ejects him from the house, but the astronaut rescues him.

Danny apologizes to Walter, but he does not forgive him. On Walter's next turn, he receives a card that allows him to make a wish, resulting in another heated argument between the boys. 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. The brothers questioned the astronaut and he explained his origins, revealing that he and his own younger brother had played the game before. He landed on the wish card, but after an escalating fight, he wished his brother was never born. 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 awakens from her stasis and, still oblivious to the situation, turns up the heat. The Zorgons return and anchor their ships to the house. She finally discovers the predicament and the quartet hides, only to realize that they left the game behind. Danny finds the game aboard one of the Zorgon ships but is spotted by the Zorgons. Walter uses a "Reprogram" card he drew earlier to fix the robot, which attacks the Zorgons instead, causing them to retreat.

Walter receives another wish card, and he uses it to bring the astronaut's brother back into existence. The astronaut reveals he is actually an older version of Walter from an alternate timeline and commends his past self for making a better choice than he did. The astronaut and the alternate Danny merge with their counterparts as the timeline changes.

The Zorgons return to the house with a massive fleet to destroy it. When Danny finally wins the game, it is revealed that Zathura is a black hole, which proceeds to consume the Zorgons' fleet and the house. The siblings find themselves back in the house as it was before the brothers 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.

• Josh Hutcherson as Walter
• Jonah Bobo as Danny
• Dax Shepard as Astronaut
• Kristen Stewart as Lisa
• Tim Robbins as Dad
• Frank Oz as the voice of Robot

Additionally, John Alexander performed as the Robot, Derek Mears as Lead Zorgon, and Douglas Tait, Joe Bucaro, and Jeff Wolfe, portray individual Zorgons.

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.[3] 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.[3]

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".[4][5] Dax Shepard, who plays the astronaut, said he would not have been interested in doing the film if the effects had been CGI-based.[6] Actress Kristen Stewart 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."[7] The exteriors for the house were filmed at Oaklawn Avenue, South Pasadena.[8][9]

Miniature models were used to create the spaceships; Favreau enjoyed using techniques used in many earlier films, such as the Star Wars trilogy.[10] in some shots the Zorgon ships were computer-generated, and in many of the scenes digital effects were used to create, for example, meteors and planets, and limbs for the robot suit built by Stan Winston Studios.[11] CGI was used to augment the Zorgon suits, which were constructed so that the head came out of the front of the suit where the actor's chest was and the actor wore a blue screen hood over his own head, and to create an entirely computer-generated Zorgon for one scene.[12] A full life size frozen model of Kristen Stewart was made by Stan Winston Studios. She described the process of modeling and being scanned to make it as arduous; it included details down to the freckles on her arm. She called the result an incredible experience, comparing it to having a twin.[10][13] Real goats were used and extra eyes were later added using CGI.[14] According to visual effects supervisor Pete Travers, from Sony Pictures Imageworks, it "was a very important aspect of the effects" to retain the stylized "1950s sci-fi look" from Van Allsburg's book, and was inspired by the pointillist style in painting.[11][15]

Favreau says the most complicated shot in the film was when the house was caught in the gravity field of Tsouris-3. The stage was mounted on top of a gimbal 30 to 40 feet (9.1 to 12.2 m) off the ground, and the gimbal allowed the set to be tilted close to 40 degrees. All the cast and crew had to be safely secured with cables and harnesses. Favreau called it "an overwhelming experience".[16]

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.[17] 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.[18][19] Author Chris Van Allsburg attributed the lack of box office success to marketing and timing.[20]

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.[21] Favreau attended Comic Con for the first time to promote the film.[22]

The film was released on VHS and DVD in 2006,[23] and a Blu-ray 10th Anniversary edition was released in 2015.[24]

The film is based on the illustrated children's book Zathura by Chris Van Allsburg and to tie-in with the film several other books were released including a novelization Zathura: The Movie – Junior Novel[45] as well as several other activity and play books.[46]

A board game that sought to mimic the film's eponymous game was released by Pressman Toy Corporation. Titled Zathura: Adventure is Waiting, the game incorporated a spring-driven, clockwork card delivery mechanism, an astronaut, the Zorgons, the haywire robot and the disintegrating house in various ways.[47]

A video-game tie-in was released on November 3, 2005, developed by High Voltage Software and published by 2K Games for PlayStation 2 and Xbox.[48] The games received "generally unfavorable reviews".[49][50]

Wikiquote has quotations related to Zathura.

• Official website
• Zathura: A Space Adventure at IMDb
• Zathura: A Space Adventure at Box Office Mojo