In just a few short days, Disney will unveil its new adventure The Jungle Book in theaters, which features an all-star cast of talent voicing the jungle creatures around young Neel Sethi, who portrays the lead character Mowgli. While we’ll have to wait and see how this movie fares in theaters, it has already been getting rave reviews from critics, with a 100% Rotten Tomatoes score from 21 reviews. Today we have a new report from Heat Vision Blog, which reveals that the studio is already developing The Jungle Book 2, with The Jungle Book director Jon Favreau and writer Justin Marks currently in negotiations to return for the follow-up.
The Jungle Book already opened in select Asian and Latin American international territories this weekend, taking in $31.7 million, debuting in the #1 spot in all territories. The highest debut was its $8.4 million take in India, which represents the second highest opening for a Western release in the country. Author Rudyard Kipling wrote several stories about Mowgli and his adventures, with this sequel expected to dive deeper into the source material, although it isn’t clear which specific book the sequel will be adapted from.
Directed by Jon Favreau, based on Rudyard Kipling‘s timeless stories and inspired by Disney’s classic animated film, The Jungle Book is an all-new live-action epic adventure about Mowgli (newcomer Neel Sethi), a man-cub who’s been raised by a family of wolves. But Mowgli finds he is no longer welcome in the jungle when fearsome tiger Shere Khan (voice ofIdris Elba), who bears the scars of Man, promises to eliminate what he sees as a threat. Urged to abandon the only home he’s ever known, Mowgli embarks on a captivating journey of self-discovery, guided by panther-turned-stern mentor Bagheera (voice of Ben Kingsley), and the free-spirited bear Baloo (voice of Bill Murray). Along the way, Mowgli encounters jungle creatures who don’t exactly have his best interests at heart, including Kaa (voice of Scarlett Johansson), a python whose seductive voice and gaze hypnotizes the man-cub, and the smooth-talking King Louie (voice of Christopher Walken), who tries to coerce Mowgli into giving up the secret to the elusive and deadly red flower: fire.
The all-star cast also includes Lupita Nyong’o as the voice of the fiercely protective mother wolf Raksha, and Giancarlo Esposito as the voice of wolf pack’s alpha male Akela. The Jungle Book seamlessly blends live-action with photorealistic CGI animals and environments, using up-to-the-minute technology and storytelling techniques to immerse audiences in an enchanting and lush world. The wild adventure swings into theaters in 3D on April 15, where it will go up against Barbershop: The Next Cut and Criminal. It’s also worth noting that Warner Bros. recently pushed the release date of their new project, The Jungle Book: Origins to October 19, 2018.
The Jungle Book comes to theaters April 15th, 2016.
The Jungle Book 2 comes to theaters in 2019.
Source: Movieweb
