Kevin Hart and Dwayne Johnson May Star In The New ‘Jumanji’ Remake

After hosting the MTV Movie Awards together it seems Kevin Hart and Dwayne Johnson will be working on another project together. According to Variety, Hart and Johnson are in early talks to star in the remake of Jumanji, which starred the late Robin Williams.

Jumanji is the adaptation of Christ Van Allsburg’s original 1981 book, and Williams’ version of the film is a ’90s classic families still enjoy today. According to Variety, schedules for the remake are still being worked out, as both Kevin and Dwayne have very busy schedules. The two are starring in Central Intelligence together, which is due to release this summer. Hart will also be lending his voice to The Secret Life of Pets and Captain Underpants, the film based on Dav Pilkey’s bestselling children’s novels. Johnson is also fully booked, starring in the HBO series Ballers, the new Disney animated film Moana, Fast 8, and the Baywatch reboot film.

Despite their busy schedules Variety reports that Kevin and Dwayne are moving toward a deal for the film. Reportedly, the plan would be to film Jumanji before Johnson has to film the third season of Ballers. However, scheduling may be a little more difficult for Kevin Hart who is expected to shoot The Intouchables with Bryan Cranston this summer.

Still, with the success Dwayne and Kevin had hosting the MTV Movie Awards and the expected success of Central Intelligence, it’s no surprise Sony would want to use this comedic duo for the Jumanji reboot. Jake Kasdan has already been tapped to direct the film. Kasdan has a lot of experience directing in comedy, both in television and film, working on Freaks and Geeks, New Girl, Bad Teacher, and Sex Tape. Matthew Tolmach, producer of The Amazing Spider-Man films, will produce the Jumanji reboot set to release on July 28, 2017.

Although the reboot script wasn’t written by the original screenwriters, Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers, the remake script, written by Scott Rosenberg and Jeff Pinkner, was based on a draft by the original writers. Rosenberg previously wrote Kangaroo Jack, and Pinkner wrote the screenplay for The 5th Wave.

The original Jumanji film was filled with action and hilarity, as was to be expected with Robin Williams in the lead role. Although it would be hard to top Williams’ level of comedy, Kevin Hart definitely has the chops to try. Lately, it seems almost everything Hart touches turns to gold; his comedic films as well as his comedy tours continue to do well and sell out.

As for the action in Jumanji? There’s no doubt Johnson could handle it. From starring in multiple Fast and Furious films, San Andreas, G. I. Joe: Retaliation and so many other action-packed movies, Johnson knows all about action films. And so does Hart. Between his Ride Along films and his new movie with Johnson, it’s clear Kevin Hart can handle both comedy and action scenes.

The original 1995 Jumanji also starred Kirsten Dunst, David Alan Grier, Bonnie Hunt, Jonathan Hyde, and Bebe Neuwirth. It’s currently unclear which roles Kevin and Dwayne will be playing, or if they’ll be playing completely new characters but with a similar premise. If they keep characters from the previous film, it would be interesting to see who might be playing the kids, Judy and Peter, in the film. Possible options include Marsai Martin and Miles Brown from Black-ish or Jared Gilmore and Kiernan Shipka, who actually played siblings on Mad Men for a while before Jared left the show for Once Upon a Time.

Whoever ends up filling those roles, or even if there are no kids at all in the remake, Jumanji is sure to be hilarious with Kevin Hart and Dwayne Johnson on board.

[Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images Entertainment]