Because there are no new ideas anymore, two adaptations of Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book are on the way at the same time. There's the Andy Serkis-directed Jungle Book: Origins, which as one can imagine will feature his prominent performance-capture techniques. And of course Disney has a live-action version coming up directed by Jon Favreau, because none of their animated library shall go untouched. After a tantalizingly brief teaser debuted for Favreau's film debuted a couple of days ago, a gorgeous trailer has been released, and it looks like the Disney classic has been given a fresh breath of life.
Featuring Bill Murray as Baloo, Ben Kingsley as Bagheera, Giancarlo Esposito and Lupita Nyong’o as Akela and Raksha, Scarlett Johansson as Kaa, Idris Elba as Shere Khan, and Christopher Walken as King Louie, the film features Neel Sethi as the main human role of Mowgli, an orphan boy raised in the deep jungles. Favreau, who took a break from the Iron Man-level blockbusters to direct Chef last year, is back in his wheelhouse as nearly every element of the film is rendered in breath-taking CGI. It's going to be hard for Serkis' film to feel relevant after this.
The Jungle Book opens April 15th 2016.
