Cumberbatch goes from Khan to Shere Khan in Andy Serkis’ Jungle Book

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

As of now, the only Jungle Book film we’ve heard anything about was that of Jon Favreau‘s Disney iteration. On Warner Bros.’ side, we knew that Andy Serkis would be making his directorial debut in helming a most-likely darker (than Disney’s) adaptation of the Rudyard Kipling story. However, they’ve now stepped up their game with a whopper of a name in Benedict Cumberbatch for the voice of the man-eating tiger, Shere Khan.

The script was written by Callie Kloves, daughter of Steve Kloves (screenwriter for the Harry Potter films) who is producing. Of course, Cumberbatch will be up against Idris Elba‘s Khan in the Disney version. Should be an interesting comparison, to say the least. Andy Serkis has more than proven his expertise with motion capture and while he does have some directing experience (second unit on THE HOBBIT films), here’s hoping he brings us something amazing with his first feature.

JUNGLE BOOK: ORIGINS (as it’s now being billed) is looking at an October 21, 2016 release.

Source: The Hollywood Reporter

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