The story of an orphan boy who is raised in the jungle with the help of a pack of wolves, a bear, and a black panther, is one we're going to see a couple of times in the future. Disney's iteration of THE JUNGLE BOOK, which was initially set to arrive this October, has since been moved to April of next year. Being crafted by director Jon Favreau (CHEF, IRON MAN), this film's sporting a hell of an ensemble cast that includes the voices of Ben Kingsley as Bagheera, Lupita Nyong'o as Raksha, Christopher Walken as King Louie, Idris Elba as Shere Khan, Scarlett Johansson as Kaa, Bill Murray as Baloo and Neel Sethi as Mowgli.
As far as this weekend's Disney expo is concerned, JoBlo's JimmO took it upon himself to check out some of the the madness with THE JUNGLE BOOK being one of them. Jon Favreau took the stage, stating that this was his first D23. Favreau was born a year before the original animated film premiered, so he felt very close to it growing up. He's also been hanging out a lot with Richard Sherman, who wrote the music for the original. Ben Kingsley (Bagheera), Lupita Nyong'o (Raksha) and Neel Sethi (Mowgli), the only live actor in the movie, also took the stage.
Ben Kingsley made mention that Pinochhio's When You Wish Upon a Star inspired him. Favreau went on to talk about how this movie is essentially an animated film, shot entirely in L.A., and that he is very proud of the bond between Mowgli and Raksha. Some footage was shown that's very close to a trailer, with Scarlett Johansson narrating, and featuring Mowgli meeting the various JUNGLE BOOK characters. While the film seemed unfininished, the footage is coming along nicely, garnering a huge response at the hall. Hopefully it won't be too long before this stuff is online! For now, you can check out the first poster for the film below!
THE JUNGLE BOOK is scheduled to hit theaters on April 15, 2016.
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