The upcoming Jumanji movie — which is apparently not a remake or reboot, according to star Dwayne Johnson — has added another familiar face to its already impressive cast, with Doctor Who and Guardians of the Galaxy actress Karen Gillan joining the project.
Sony Pictures confirmed Gillan’s involvement in the film, which already features Johnson in a lead role, along with Jack Black, Kevin Hart, and Nick Jonas. The film is expected to begin production next month.
In a post on Facebook announcing Gillan’s involvement in the film, Johnson had high praise for the actress, and indicated that the film will be “a continuation of the awesome Jumanji story we love” instead of a remake of the 1995 film of the same name that starred Robin Williams.
“Yes, this is the girl who is so badass, she shaved her freaking head for Guardians of the Galaxy,” wrote Johnson. “We start production next month in Hawaii, and as many of you already know, this isn’t a remake or reboot, but a continuation of the awesome Jumanji story we love.”
Set to be directed by Bad Teacher and Sex Tape filmmaker Jake Kasdan, Jumanji is based on script penned by High Fidelity and Con Air screenwriter Scott Rosenberg. The original, 1995 film was inspired by Chris Van Allsburg’s 1985 children’s book of the same name, which told the story of a group of children who discover that the strange board game they’re playing has actually thrust them into a very real adventure filled with terrifying jungle creatures, man-eating plants, and other threats.
The Rocketeer and Captain America: The First Avenger director Joe Johnston helmed the 1995 film, which earned $262 million worldwide the year it was released.
The new Jumanji is currently scheduled to hit theaters July 28, 2017.
China just gave Hollywood a cautionary tale about AI filmmaking. Sanxingdui: Future Past, billed as the country's first fully AI-generated movie, hit theaters on October 23 and bombed at the box office.
According to Futurism, the film's reported $1.5 million production budget landed on more than 10,000 screens. Yet it pulled in only about $181,000, averaging roughly $20 per screen, making the budget difficult to recover.
Some of the best shots in Grok Imagine’s AI-made Odyssey don’t contain actors. Ancient landscapes stretch into the distance. Close-ups of grimy hands suggest people who have touched something rougher than a keyboard. For a few seconds, the illusion holds.
https://twitter.com/imagine/status/2113712964419063911
YouTube videos could soon look better without eating quite so much data, right? Thankfully, the platform plans to introduce a new video format called AV2 on its web player in early 2027, promising more efficient streaming and potentially fewer playback hiccups on slower internet connections. The big headline is a roughly 30% improvement in compression efficiency over AV1, YouTube's existing video format. That doesn't guarantee every video will use 30% less data, but it could make streaming a little easier on both internet connections and data allowances.
What is AV2, and why should viewers care?