Two young brothers are drawn into an intergalactic adventure when their house is hurled through the depths of space by the magical board game they are playing.
An old and forgotten game develops magical powers in this fantasy for the whole family. Ten-year-old Walter Budwing (Josh Hutcherson) and his younger brother, Danny (Jonah Bobo), figure they're going to be in for a boring time when their father (Tim Robbins), who was supposed to spend the day with them, is suddenly called away on business, and gives them strict orders not to leave the house. Walter, who doesn't have much use for Danny, is motivated by boredom more than anything else when he agrees to play a board game Danny has found in the basement during a round of hide-and-seek. However, the boys quickly discover the space-themed game Zathura has some unusual qualities -- a roll of the dice unexpectedly launches the Budwing home into outer space, and Walter and Danny are suddenly fending off menacing robots, angry aliens, and showers of interstellar debris outside the Earth's atmosphere. As the boys try to figure out a way back home, they get some unexpected help from an earthling astronaut (Dax Shepard) who has also lost his way.
Bored to death, the always bickering siblings, Walter, and his six-year-old brother, Danny, unearth a forgotten 1950s space-adventure board game in the dusty basement. Without delay, the boys start playing the game, and before they know it, a violent meteor shower wrecks the living-room, and the mysterious game uproots their entire house, turning it into an extraordinary spaceship on its way to Saturn. Now, whether they like it or not, the brothers, along with their teenage sister, Lisa, will have to figure out a way to work together; escape from the dangerous asteroid zone, and survive the onslaught of the ferocious reptilian race, the Zorgons. Can they win the challenging game, and return home in one piece.—Nick Riganas
Three siblings, a female and two males, find themselves lost throughout space not knowing the dangers that are out there. Along the way, they all learn to support and get to know each in multiple different ways which could change everything if they get back home.—RECB3
Danny and Walter are two brothers who barely get along even while driving their parents to distraction as their older sister tries to ignore them. Despite their squabbling, the brothers manage cooperate enough to play an old mechanical board game named Zathura. However, after their first move, they find that the game has apparently flung them, their sister and their entire house into outer space. Furthermore, the brothers surmise the only way to return home is to finish the game. However with almost every move, new dangers arise as the siblings find themselves learning to cooperate in ways they never expected as they realize what they mean to each other.—Kenneth Chisholm ([email protected])
Walter and Danny are two brothers who do not get along with each other or with their cantankerous 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 details 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. They check the box the game was in, but the only thing they find is that in order for things to return to normal they must finish the game till the end. Walter and Danny attempt to tell Lisa about their predicament and thinks she has overslept because of the dark sky and prepares to go out, however the next card puts her in cryogenic sleep, leaving her frozen solid for five turns.
Walter soon concludes they must win the game to 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. However, Walter is unable to properly put out the fire in the boiler room because the robot is there, instead he turns the heat down all the way hoping it would be enough. The astronaut lures the Zorgons' ship away by setting the boys' father's couch on fire and ejecting it from the house.
Walter demands that the astronaut leave, but Danny chooses to let him stay. While taking his turn, Walter notices that Danny's game piece is ahead of his and accuses Danny of cheating by moving his piece prematurely; after Walter forcibly moves the piece back and takes his next turn, the game deems Walter as a cheater and ejects him from the house, but the astronaut rescues him. Danny apologizes to Walter, but Walter does not forgive him and tells him to not talk to him until they are back home.
On Walter's next turn, he receives a gold card that allows him to make a wish on a shooting star, resulting in another heated argument between the boys causing Danny to throw the board and run into their bedroom. As the star passes by, the astronaut warns Walter not to make a wish out of anger. Fearing the worst, the astronaut is relieved to discover that Walter merely wished for an autographed football. He explains his origins, revealing that he was a player and that he and his brother had played the game before. He received the shooting star 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 his brother. 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. Lisa finally discovers their predicament and the quartet hide, only to realize that they left the game behind in the living room. Danny finds the game aboard one of the Zorgon ships, but is spotted. Walter uses a "Reprogram" card he drew earlier to fix the robot, who attacks the Zorgons instead, causing them to retreat.
After Danny takes his turn, Walter receives a card that lets him redo his previous turn earning him another shooting star wish card; he uses it to bring the astronaut's brother back into existence. However, to everyone's shock is another version of Danny, it is then that the astronaut reveals he is actually an older version of Walter from an alternate time-line 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 time-line changes.
The Zorgons return to the house with a massive fleet, with the intent of destroying it. When Danny makes the winning move, it is revealed that Zathura is a black hole, which proceeds to consume the Zorgons' fleet and the house. As the game pieces move backward, everything gets sucked in as Danny and Walter desperately cling to life. The siblings find themselves back in the house as it was before the brothers started the game, just as their father returns home. Their bond renewed, they promise to each other and Lisa to not tell anyone about the game and their adventure. As Walter teases Lisa about his eyes, as she fallen for the older alternate version of Walter without knowing it as Danny tries to stop him from teasing her.
