The Walt Disney Studios is moving forward with another feature film version of Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book. This time, the film is going to be a hybrid live-action/CG film directed by Jon Favreau. British actor Idris Elba is in final talks to voice the villainous tiger Shere Khan. No other casting decisions have been announced. Elba should be a terrific choice for the character who was famously voiced in the 1967 Disney animated feature by the great character actor George Sanders.
Disney’s latest Jungle Book film is their third feature film version of Kipling’s novel. It joins Disney’s 1967 animated classic (which was just released on Blu-ray) and their 1994 live action version starring Jason Scott Lee and directed by Stephen Sommers. Disney has also used animated characters from The Jungle Book in their animated Tale Spin series along with their 2003 sequel The Jungle Book 2.
Warner Bros. has their own feature film of The Jungle Book currently in development since the book is in the public domain; however, director Alejandro González Iñárritu recently left the project. According to Collider, director Ron Howard was recently mentioned in connection with the project, but no confirmation has been formally announced.
Disney’s latest Jungle Book feature has a release date scheduled of October 9, 2015.
Sources: Collider.com, Deadline.com
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