All eyes in the film world may have been trained on last night’s Oscars ceremony – and all the highlights and surprises therein – but the House of Mouse took the opportunity to quietly release the latest TV spot for Jon Favreau’s The Jungle Book.
Doubling down on Idris Elba’s sinister, toe-curling Shere Khan, the snippet cuts together footage that we’ve already laid eyes on. Then again, today’s teaser appears much more serious in tone, teeing up the core conflict between Neel Sethi’s man-cub Mowgli and Elba’s formidable Bengal tiger.
In resurrecting Disney’s prized fairytale (a year before Andy Serkis’ Jungle Book: Origins, too) Jon Favreau is overhauling Mowgli’s journey to create a visual epic, all the while retaining those fundamental elements that make The Jungle Book so special in the first place – i.e. Baloo’s Bear Necessities, the fish-out-of-water dynamic et al.
Starring opposite Sethi and Elba for the feature are Ben Kingsley, Christopher Walken Bill Murray, Scarlett Johansson, Ralph Ineson along with Star Wars: The Force Awakens alum Lupita Nyong’o.
Do I have your attention now? The Jungle Book is slated to arrive on April 15.
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 of Idris 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).
