The Jungle Book (Live-Action)

[Disneyphile]

Disney is swinging into development on a live-action adaptation of The Jungle Book, Rudyard Kipling’s classic set of fables based in India. Justin Marks has been hired to pen the script.

The short-story collection was published in 1894, and the majority of the tales focus on Mowgli, a young boy raised by wolves whose friends include a bear named Baloo and a panther by the name of Bagheera. One of the adversaries that pops up several times is Shere Khan, a mean tiger.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-v ... oot-582283

[Sotiris]

But Disney already produced two live-action adaptations of The Jungle Book titled Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book and The Jungle Book: Mowgli's Story.

[PatrickvD]

You don't get it Sotiris, we need a CGI-heavy, fairytale origin story.

[dvdjunkie]

NO WE DON'T!!! The classic animated version is the one every loves.

They had a live version back in the 40's starring Sabu as Mowgli.

The Disney live version turned out to be a real bomb. It was filmed on a shoestring budget, and is the subject of many gaffs that are pointed out each and every time it is seen on television.

Let's just leave "The Jungle Book" alone.

[disneyftw1]

Damn it, another adaptation?! ... not sure if want.

[Super Aurora]

Another one?!

The first live action one was AWESOME and fantastic! It captured Jungle Book's more serious and darker tone so well as well as aesthetic and essence of jungle temple so well.

[milojthatch]

I really think they should leave this one alone. It's been done already.

[disneyboy20022]

Disney Planning Live-Action ‘Jungle Book’ Movie from ‘Street Fighter’ Writer/u]
http://www.nme.com/filmandtv/news/disne ... vie/312492

Just about everyone of a certain age is familiar with the famous animated musical based on author Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book - the last feature produced by Walt Disney himself – with its swinging 1960s tunes, now old-school xerography animation techniques, and talking animal characters (which includes that pack of vultures modeled after The Beatles). Some three decades later in 1994, the Mouse House released a live-action take on the story from director Stephen Sommers (The Mummy (1999)), as a more serious action-adventure starring Jason Scott Lee, Cary Elwes, Sam Neill and a 21-year old Lena Headey.

Disney has decided it’s time for another live-action movie based on Kipling’s novel about the adventures of man-cub Mowgli, in part because the book is now in the public domain. Last year, WB was reported to have recruited Steve Kloves (the screenwriter on all but the fifth Harry Potter movie) to write, direct and produce a live-action Jungle Book movie, but we haven’t heard anything about that project since the original announcement.

Heat Vision is reporting that Disney has hired Justin Marks to write the script for the new live-action Jungle Book adaptation. The project has only entered the earliest stages of development, but studio heads have already begun the search for a director (even without any major producers involved at this point).

Marks previously wrote Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li - which is not exactly a beloved video game movie – but he also has a professional history with the Mouse House, having written an early script draft for the studio’s currently-stalled 3D live-action 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea movie. He also penned the script for the feature-length version of the internet hit “The Raven” (watch it here), which is being produced by Mark Wahlberg and directed by Ricardo de Montreuil (who made the original short). Having said that, it’s probably a fair bet that Marks won’t be the only screenwriter who ends up taking a stab at this latest re-telling of Kipling’s stories.

The Lone Ranger look to become a John Carter-size bomb for Disney, which is going to have an effect on what the studio does in the future. That could mean the Mouse House will stop financing big-budget projects that reflect a filmmaker’s vision, similar to director Gore Verbinsk’s Lone Ranger and David Fincher’s planned 20,000 Leagues adaptation (case in point, the latter was delayed indefinitely from a 2013 production start date). Hence, Disney’s new Jungle Book movie may be closer in tone and style to Sommers’ 1994 adaptation: a PG-Rated film which, in its time, was considered surprisingly violent for Disney, but is nothing compared to the brutal content found in Lone Ranger (not to mention, has very little of that film’s artistic ambition).

Similarly, the box office under-performance of Lone Ranger and John Carter will only encourage Disney to stick to revisiting bankable properties and making more sequels. That includes the Sleeping Beauty revisionist film Maleficent, the live-action Cinderella retelling from director Kenneth Branagh, and followups to both Disney’s live-action Alice in Wonderland movie and Oz the Great and Powerful. Maybe we will get some more original content down the line, but for the time being Disney looks to keep on heading back to its old wells until they all run dry…

[estefan]

Jon Favreau is apparently in discussions to direct The Jungle Book as his next movie.

I wonder what this means about Magic Kingdom.

[disneyboy20022]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2tnSG4zNoks[/youtube]

[WillytheDino]

Update: Scarlett Johansson, Lupita Nyong'o in Talks for Disney's 'Jungle Book'

[disneyprincess11]

Ummmmm...why is Scarlett Johnason in the talks of voicing a MALE character?! And with a girl snake trying to eat a little boy, it sounds like he/she is seducing her like a woman and a man. I know Kaa does seduce Mowgli in the movie, but this will be worse. Not a smart move, Disney.

[thedisneyspirit]

I love the Jungle Book but I don't think you can do more to the story.

There's plenty of adaptations of it, plus the original novels, so I don't think a new version will bring anything special.

[Musical Master]

I love the Jungle Book but I don't think you can do more to the story.

There's plenty of adaptations of it, plus the original novels, so I don't think a new version will bring anything special.

Either it's going to be the same old, same old; or it's going to be as dark as the book with some of the original Disney movie's songs. I'll wait for the trailers.

[estefan]

Ben Kingsley will voice Bagheera.

That's definitely perfect casting. Makes me curious to see who will voice Baloo and King Louie.

[moviefan12]

I know I'm probably in the minority here but I wouldn't mind John Goodman getting another stab at Baloo. While The Jungle Book 2 was not great, Goodman actually was pretty good Baloo.

[disneyprincess11]

Bill Murray is Baloo and Christopher Walken is King Lowie

https://www.facebook.com/insidethemagic ... =1&theater
http://time.com/3048493/christopher-walken-jungle-book/

[Dr Frankenollie]

Despite the whole 'remake' stigma, this film is shaping up to have one fantastic cast. Elba will be terrific as Shere Khan; Kingsley is perfect for Bagheera; Johansson's casting will ensure a completely new take on Kaa; and Walken playing King Louie sounds hilarious. The only decision I'm uncertain of would be Bill Murray as Baloo. The big old papa bear is not really the dryly humorous, sarcastic type.

[Old Fish Tale]

Despite the whole 'remake' stigma, this film is shaping up to have one fantastic cast. Elba will be terrific as Shere Khan; Kingsley is perfect for Bagheera; Johansson's casting will ensure a completely new take on Kaa; and Walken playing King Louie sounds hilarious. The only decision I'm uncertain of would be Bill Murray as Baloo. The big old papa bear is not really the dryly humorous, sarcastic type.

It really has a great cast! And I think Bill is perfect to voice Baloo!

[DisneyJedi]

I know I'm probably in the minority here but I wouldn't mind John Goodman getting another stab at Baloo. While The Jungle Book 2 was not great, Goodman actually was pretty good Baloo.

I agree. Besides that guy who voiced him in Kinect Disneyland and Sulley in Disney Infinity (I'm too lazy to look it up right now), John's pretty much the best option to voice Baloo.

Don't get me wrong. I think Bill Murray's a great actor, but it's gonna be hard to imagine his voice coming out of Baloo's mouth.