The idea of a live action adaptation of Rudyard Kipling’s “The Jungle Book” at Disney is an interesting proposition in this day and age. I expect it will be loaded with CG characters, such as the tiger known as Shere Khan, which we now know will now be voiced by Idris Elba. We’ve seen the effectiveness of a CG-animated tiger in Life of Pi and as impressive as the animation may end up being, we will always know the actors aren’t acting opposite a real tiger so Elba has a big task ahead of him, making sure audiences pay more attention to Khan as a character and less as a visual effect.
Speaking of which, the visual effects will be overseen by Rob Legato whose work you’ve seen in films such as Avatar, The Wolf of Wall Street, Hugo and Titanic.
Set to be directed by Jon Favreau, who has Chef premiering at SXSW very soon, The Jungle Book is already slated for a October 9, 2015 release, telling the story of Mowgli, a young Indian boy raised by wolves who learns to live among the animals.
As of now, Elba is the first to join the cast. [Deadline]
