Directed by Andy Serkis Music by Nitin Sawhney | Screenplay by Callie Kloves | |
Produced by Jonathan Cavendish
Steve Kloves
Andy Serkis Based on The Jungle Book
by Rudyard Kipling Starring Rohan Chand
Andy Serkis
Christian Bale
Benedict Cumberbatch
Matthew Rhys
Freida Pinto
Peter Mullan
Naomie Harris
Eddie Marsan
Jack Reynor
Tom Hollander
Cate Blanchett | ||
Jungle Book (formerly known as Jungle Book: Origins) is an upcoming British-American live-action adventure fantasy film directed by Andy Serkis and written by Callie Kloves, based on The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling. The film stars Rohan Chand as Mowgli with motion capture performances from Serkis as Baloo, Christian Bale as Bagheera, Benedict Cumberbatch as Shere Khan, Tom Hollander as Tabaqui and Cate Blanchett as Kaa.
Contents
Principal photography began on March 9, 2015. Warner Bros. plans to release the film in the United States on October 19, 2018.
Cast
Motion capture performances
Production
A number of writers, directors, and producers have been connected with the film during its development. In April 2012, Warner Bros. Pictures announced that it was developing the film with Steve Kloves in talks to write, direct, and produce it. It was reported in December 2013 that Kloves would produce the film, but that Alejandro González Iñárritu was in talks to direct it, from a screenplay by Kloves' daughter Callie. However, in January 2014, Iñárritu left the project due to scheduling conflicts with Birdman and The Revenant. In February 2014, it was reported that Ron Howard was in talks to direct, and would produce the film with Brian Grazer through their Imagine Entertainment company. The next month it was announced that Andy Serkis would direct and produce the film with collaborator Jonathan Cavendish of The Imaginarium Studios, along with Steve Kloves; still from Callie Kloves' script. The production designer would be Gary Freeman, the editor would be Mark Sanger, and the costume designer would be Alexandra Byrne.
In August 2014, Benedict Cumberbatch joined the film to voice the villain role of Shere Khan. Christian Bale, Cate Blanchett, Naomie Harris, Tom Hollander, Eddie Marsan, Peter Mullan and Rohan Chand were announced the following day. Jack Reynor was added to the cast in March 2015 as Mowgli's Brother Wolf. It was announced in April 2015 that Matthew Rhys was in talks to play the human role of John Lockwood. In May 2015, it was confirmed that Freida Pinto would be playing an unspecified live-action role along with Rhys and Chand, later confirmed to be Mowgli's adoptive mother.
Principal photography officially began on March 9, 2015.
Release
The film, titled Jungle Book: Origins, was originally set for an October 2016 release. In December 2014, WB shifted the date to October 2017, allowing more time for further work on the special effects. In April 2016, just before the wide release of Disney's The Jungle Book, this film's release date was moved to October 19, 2018, under the new name Jungle Book.