It was as director of Will Ferrell’s 2003 hit festive comedy Elf, where the outsized comic played a human raised in Santa’s workshop as one of his little helpers, that Favreau really proved himself as a director – and one with a strange ability to appeal to children. He’s still, thanks to his long-term friendship with Vaughan, on the fringes of the new Hollywood ‘Frat Pack’ of comic actors – Vaughn, Ben Stiller, Jack Black, Steve Carell, Will Ferrell and brothers Owen and Luke Wilson. Jon Favreau remains best known for his acting work – from his fame-winning turn alongside Vince Vaughn in the film version of his own script, Swingers, to memorable character turns in any number of sub-par Hollywood blockbusters and comedies. However, whereas Jumanji was directed by the not overly talented Joe Johnson – of Honey I Shrunk the Kids fame – and relied almost exclusively on Robin Williams’ antics to tie the special effects together into some kind of plot, Zathura is helmed by a rather more accomplished director. This time the game is space-based, so soon our young heroes are facing asteroid showers, robots and alien invaders. In Jumanji the theme was the jungle, so the young players had to cope with rhinoceroses and other such beasts. A decade on, we get another children’s adventure based on a book by Chris Van Allsburg in which a board game, the titular Zathura, magically affects real life.

Zathura a space adventure book