The Jungle Book (2016)

***The Jungle Book*** is a 2016 American fantasy adventure film directed by Jon Favreau, written by Justin Marks and produced by Walt Disney Pictures. Based on Rudyard Kipling's eponymous collective works and inspired by Walt Disney's 1967 animated film of the same name, *The Jungle Book* is a live-action/CGI film that tells the story of Mowgli, an orphaned human boy who, guided by his animal guardians, sets out on a journey of self-discovery while evading the threatening Shere Khan. The film introduces Neel Sethi as Mowgli and also features the voices of Bill Murray, Ben Kingsley, Idris Elba, Lupita Nyong'o, Scarlett Johansson, Giancarlo Esposito and Christopher Walken.

Favreau, Marks and producer Brigham Taylor developed the film's story as a balance between Disney's animated adaptation and Kipling's original works, adapting elements from both into the film. Principal photography commenced in 2014, with filming taking place entirely in Los Angeles. The film required extensive use of computer-generated imagery to portray the animals and settings. *The Jungle Book* was released in North America in Disney Digital 3-D, RealD 3D, IMAX 3D, D-Box, as well as premium large formats, on April 15, 2016. It is currently the third highest-grossing movie of 2016.

## Plot

Mowgli is a "man cub" raised by the Indian wolf Raksha and her pack, led by Akela, ever since he was brought to them as a baby by the black panther Bagheera within the jungles of Seoni, Madhya Pradesh. Bagheera trains Mowgli to learn the ways of the wolves, but the boy faces certain challenges and falls behind his wolf siblings, and Akela berates him for using human tricks like building tools instead of learning the ways of the pack.

One day, during the dry season, the jungle animals gather to drink the water that remains as part of a truce called during a drought that enables the jungle's wildlife to drink without fear of being eaten by larger, more predatory beasts. The truce is disrupted, however, when a scarred Bengal tiger, Shere Khan, arrives, detecting Mowgli's scent in the crowd. Resentful against man for scarring him, he issues a warning that he will kill Mowgli at the end of the drought. As the wolf pack debates whether they should keep Mowgli or not, Mowgli voluntarily decides to leave the jungle for the safety of his pack. Bagheera agrees with the decision and volunteers to guide him to the nearby man village.

En route, Shere Khan ambushes them and injures Bagheera, but Mowgli manages to escape. Later, Mowgli meets Kaa, an enormous Indian python, who hypnotizes him. While under Kaa's hypnosis, Mowgli sees a vision of his father being mauled while protecting him from Shere Khan. The vision also warns of the destructive power of the "red flower". Kaa then attempts to devour Mowgli, but he is rescued by a sloth bear named Baloo. Together, they form a close bond after realizing their teamwork allows them to get honey easily for Baloo, and Mowgli agrees to stay with Baloo until the winter season arrives. Meanwhile, Shere Khan confronts the wolf pack, but upon learning that Mowgli has left the jungle, he kills Akela and takes over the hills to lure Mowgli out.

Bagheera eventually finds Mowgli and Baloo and is angered by Mowgli's usage of tricks to get Baloo his honey. An argument flares between Mowgli and Bagheera, but Baloo calms them down and persuades both of them to sleep on it. During the night, Mowgli finds a herd of elephants gathered around a ditch, and uses his vines to save a baby elephant from the ditch. Although Baloo and Bagheera are both impressed, Baloo realizes that he cannot guarantee Mowgli's safety after Bagheera tells him that Shere Khan is looking for him. Baloo agrees to push Mowgli away in an effort to get him to continue onward to the man village.

Mowgli is kidnapped by the Bandar-log who present him to their leader, a Bornean orangutan-like *Gigantopithecus* named King Louie. Assuming that all humans can summon the red flower, King Louie offers Mowgli protection from Shere Khan in exchange for the red flower. Baloo distracts Louie while Bagheera tries to sneak out with Mowgli, but their plan is discovered. As Louie chases Mowgli through his temple, he informs Mowgli of Akela's death. His rampage eventually causes his temple to crumble on top of him. Furious that Baloo and Bagheera never told him about Akela's death, Mowgli goes to confront Shere Khan alone.

Finding the man village, Mowgli steals a lit torch to use as a weapon and heads back to the jungle, accidentally starting a wildfire in the process. He confronts Shere Khan, who points out that Mowgli has made himself the enemy of the jungle by causing the wildfire. Mowgli throws the torch into the water, giving Shere Khan the advantage. Baloo, Bagheera, and the wolf pack intervene and hold Shere Khan off, giving Mowgli enough time to set a trap. He lures Shere Khan up a tree and onto a branch, which breaks under the tiger's weight, and Shere Khan falls to his death into the fire below. The elephants arrive and divert the river to put out the fire.

In the aftermath, Raksha becomes the new leader of the wolf pack. Mowgli decides to utilize his equipment and tricks for his own use, having found his true home and calling with his wolf family, Baloo, and Bagheera.

## Cast

* Neel Sethi as Mowgli
	+ Kendrick Reyes as infant Mowgli
* Ritesh Rajan as Mowgli's father

### Voice cast

* Bill Murray as Baloo
* Ben Kingsley as Bagheera
* Idris Elba as Shere Khan
* Giancarlo Esposito as Akela
* Lupita Nyong'o as Raksha
* Scarlett Johansson as Kaa
* Christopher Walken as King Louie
* Garry Shandling as Ikki
* Brighton Rose as Grey Brother
* Jon Favreau as Pygmy Hog
* Sam Raimi as Indian Giant Squirrel
* Russell Peters as Rocky the Indian Rhinoceros
* Madeleine Favreau as Raquel the Indian Rhinoceros
* Sara Arrington as Neelgai

Dee Bradley Baker, Artie Esposito, Sean Johnson, and Allan Trautman provide additional animal voices.

## Production

### Development and casting

"The idea of going out to the jungle and shooting this, it just felt like it wouldn't have the magic that the 1967 film had had. There was a dreamlike quality to it. There was a surreal quality to it. It was a high-water mark for character animation and to me, that's what I remember about it. And so I wanted to make sure we preserved that...But what Alan Horn said was: look at the technology. Look at *Life of Pi*, *Avatar*. Why not use the technology to create a whole world that transports you? Let's really embrace this new technology and see what we can do if we push its limit."

Walt Disney Pictures announced that a live-action remake of *The Jungle Book* was in development on July 9, 2013, with Justin Marks set to write the script. The film would be Disney's second live-action adaptation of Rudyard Kipling's works, following the 1994 film, and the studio's third overall after the 1967 animated musical. Jon Favreau was later confirmed as director on November 5, 2013. Favreau as a child used to watch Disney's 1967 animated musical version. He felt the need to strike a balance between the two films by retaining the buoyant spirit of the 1967 film, including some of its memorable songs, while crafting a movie with more realism and peril. He also stressed the importance of nature and realized how things have shifted during Kipling's time and now, "In Kipling's time, nature was something to be overcome. Now nature is something to be protected." He was encouraged by Walt Disney Studios chairman Alan Horn to take advantage of the film's setting and story as an opportunity to use the latest advancements in photorealistic rendering, computer-generated imagery and motion capture technologies. The story of the film is not independently taken from Kipling's works but also borrows cinematic inspirations from other films, including the child-mentor relationship in *Shane* (1953), the establishment of rules in a dangerous world from *Goodfellas* (1990) and the use of a shadowy jungle figure in *Apocalypse Now* (1979).

The cast was announced between March and August 2014, with Idris Elba being announced to voice Shere Khan during early stages, and Bill Murray eventually confirmed as the voice of Baloo in August 2014. Between then, Scarlett Johansson, Ben Kingsley, and Christopher Walken were confirmed to play Kaa, Bagheera, and King Louie, respectively. Favreau decided to cast Johansson to play Kaa, originally a male character, as he felt the original film was "a little too male-oriented". Favreau and Marks noticed the lack of female characters in the 1967 film version and wanted to address that by reviving Raksha's character more prominently, as she was very much prominent in Kipling's tales as well. Lupita Nyong'owas cast as Raksha as Favreau believed her voice imbued the emotion required for the role, "Lupita has tremendous depth of emotion in her performance. There’s an emotional underpinning she brings, and a strength, and we wanted that for this surrogate mother. Much of that comes from her voice." Favreau also decided to change King Louie from an orangutan to a *Gigantopithecus* due to the fact that orangutans are not native to India, where the story takes place. His character was given a slight alteration from the 1967 film and was partly inspired by Marlon Brando's character Colonel Walter E. Kurtz in *Apocalypse Now*, as well as incorporating Walken's own physical mannerisms. In regards to Louie's changes, Favreau stated, "We created this looming figure that was trying to extract the secret of fire from Mowgli. And also this gave Mowgli the idea that if he had fire, he could have power over Shere Khan, whether it was good or bad. So there was a *Lord of the Rings* aspect to that; the fire was almost like the ring in that was going to give someone ultimate power, but corrupt them as well as create destruction."

The search for casting Mowgli was extensive, with thousands of children auditioning from the United States, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, and Canada. Eventually, newcomer Neel Sethi was confirmed for the role, with casting director Sarah Finn describing him as embodying "the heart, humor, and daring of the character. He’s warm and accessible, yet also has an intelligence well beyond his years and impressed us all with his ability to hold his own in any situation." Sethi underwent parkour training in preparation for the role. Pixar Animation Studios assisted in the development of the story, as well as providing suggestions for the film's end credits sequence.

### Filming

Principal photography took place entirely on sound stages at L.A. Center Studios in downtown Los Angeles. The animal characters were created entirely in key frame computer animation, with the assistance of footage of real animal movement, the actors recording their lines, and performance capture for reference. The production team underwent a thorough process to realistically convey the animals' speaking, while still making them perceptually believable to the audience. Favreau researched earlier films featuring anthropomorphic animals—including Walt Disney's animated features, such as *Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs* and *Bambi,* as well as modern films such as *Babe*—and adopted certain techniques from those films into *The Jungle Book*. Nearly 70 separate species of native animals are featured in the film, with several species being portrayed as "150% larger" than their actual counterparts. Jim Henson's Creature Shop was brought in to provide animal puppet figures for Sethi to act against, although none appear in the finished film. Favreau utilized motion capture with certain actors, expressing a desire to avoid overusing the technology in order to prevent evoking an uncanny valley effect.

Moving Picture Company (MPC) and Weta Digital created the film's visual effects. MPC developed new software for animating muscular structure in the animals. Around 1,000 remote jungle locations in India were photographed and used as reference in post-production. Weta was responsible for animating the King Louie sequence, with visual effects supervisor Keith Miller adding that, "It was important for Jon to see Christopher Walken in the creature. So we took some of the distinctive Walken facial features— iconic lines, wrinkles and folds— and integrated them into the animated character." Favreau expressed desire in wanting the film's 3-D shots to imbue the abilities of the multiplane camerasystem utilized in Disney's earlier animated films. At Favreau's behest, the idea was extended into the film's version of the Walt Disney Pictures opening production logo, which was recreated as "a hand-painted, cel-animated multi-plane logo" in homage to the animated films of that era. The film's ending also features the original physical book that opened the 1967 film.

### Music

The musical score for *The Jungle Book* was composed by frequent Favreau collaborator John Debney, mostly drawing from George Bruns' original music. Though Favreau decided not to make the film a musical, nevertheless, he and Debney incorporated several songs from the 1967 animated film. "The Bare Necessities", written by Terry Gilkyson, is performed by Murray and Sethi, and a cover version by Dr. John is featured in the end credits. "I Wan'na Be Like You" and "Trust in Me"—written by the Sherman Brothers—are performed by Walken and Johansson, respectively; Richard M. Sherman wrote revised lyrics for Walken's version of "I Wan'na Be Like You". Johansson's rendition of "Trust in Me" was produced by Mark Ronson and appears in the end credits only. Walt Disney Records released the film's soundtrack on April 15, 2016.

## Release

On January 13, 2015, the film's release date was postponed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures from October 9, 2015 to April 15, 2016. The film was released in the Dolby Vision format in Dolby Cinema in the United States, and is the first film to be released in Dolby Vision 3D (in a few select theaters in New York and Chicago). *The Jungle Book* held its world premiere at the El Capitan Theatre on April 4, 2016. It was released in 15 countries, a week ahead of its U.S. debut on April 15 in countries like Argentina, Australia, Russia, Malaysia and most notably in India on April 8. The release date in India was strategic for the film as it coincided with the Indian New Year and was a holiday in most parts of the country. Disney India commissioned a contemporary recording of "Jungle Jungle Baat Chali Hai", overseen by the song's composers Vishal Bhardwaj and Gulzar, and released it as part of the film's promotional campaign in India.

## Reception

### Box office

As of May 11, 2016, *The Jungle Book* has grossed $292.5 million in North America and $501 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $793.6 million. Worldwide, the film was released across 28,000 RealD 3D screens and had an IMAX worldwide opening of $20.4 million from 901 IMAX screens, a new record for a PG film. As of April 24, it has grossed a total of $39 million in IMAX screens worldwide. Due to strong opening numbers, various box office analysts believe the film will earn over $1 billion in ticket sales.

#### North America

Projections for its opening weekend in the United States and Canada were continuously revised upwards, starting from $60 million to as high as $88 million, with female and older male quadrants being the prime draw. *The Jungle Book* was shown across 4,028 theaters of which 3,100 theaters (75%) were in 3D, including 376 IMAX screens, 463 premium large format screens, and 145 D-Box locations. It opened Friday, April 15, 2016, on around 9,500 screens across 4,028 theaters, and earned $32.4 million, the fourth-biggest April Friday. This includes $4.2 million from Thursday previews, the biggest preview number for a Disney live-adaptation film (tied with *Maleficent*), and almost unheard-of for a PG title, which rarely attracts many ticketbuyers later in the night. In total, it earned $103.6 million in its opening weekend, exceeding expectations by 40% and recorded the biggest PG-rated April opening (breaking *Hop*'s record), the second-biggest Disney live-action adaptation opening (behind *Alice in Wonderland*), and the second-biggest April opening (behind *Furious 7*). It also performed exceptionally well in both 3D and IMAX formats, where they both generated an income of $44 million and $10.4 million of the film's opening weekend gross respectively, the later broke the record for the biggest April Disney release IMAX opening. Notably, it also became the only second PG-rated release to ever open above $100 million, following *Alice in Wonderland*, and the third film of 2016 overall to open above $100 million, following *Deadpool* and *Dawn of Justice*. It earned $130.7 million in its first full week, the second-biggest for a Disney live-action adaptation, behind only *Alice in Wonderland*'s $146 million seven-day gross.

Buoyed by excellent word of mouth and benefiting from spring break, it fell only by 40% in its second weekend earning an estimated $61.5 million still maintaining the top position and far surpassing newcomer *The Huntsman: Winter's War*. That puts *The Jungle Book* in the top fifteen second weekends of all time and in terms of films that opened above $100 million, it scored the fourth smallest drop behind *Shrek 2* (-33%), *Spider-Man* (-39%) and *Star Wars: The Force Awakens* (-39%). Of those numbers, $5.6 million came from IMAX shows for a two weekend cumulative total of $18.4 million which represents about 10% of its entire North American box office gross. It crossed $200 million on its twelfth day of release and managed to hold the top spot for the third consecutive weekend with $43.7 million from 4,041 theaters (an addition of 13 more theaters), a fall of only 29%, outgrossing the next six pictures combined (including the openings of three newcomers) and recorded the sixth-biggest third weekend of all time. Moreover, the 29% drop is the smallest third-weekend drop (from its second weekend) for a $100 million opener ever. Disney added an additional 103 theaters for the film's fourth weekend of release which propelled its theater count to 4,144 theaters, but nevertheless, it was overtaken by *Captain America: Civil War* after experiencing a -50% decline.

#### Outside North America

Outside North America, *The Jungle Book* will be released in about 70 countries. Internationally, it opened across 15 markets and 69 IMAX screens a week ahead of its U.S. debut, and faced notable competition from newcomer *The Huntsman: Winter's War* and holdover *Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice*, the latter of which was entering its third weekend. The reason behind the divided release pattern was because Disney wanted to get some space before the studio's own *Captain America: Civil War* releases in early May, as well as availing school holidays and avoiding local competitors. It eventually grossed $31.7 million, debuting at first place in all markets and second overall at the international box office, behind *Dawn of Justice*, which was playing across 67 markets. In its second weekend, it expanded to an additional 49 countries (88% of its total marketplace) and grossed $138.6 million from 64 countries, easily topping the international box office, a bulk of it came from China. Approximately 63% or $85 million of that came from 3D screenings, with the largest 3D opening haul representated by China (98%), Germany (83%), Brazil (73%), Russia (60%), Mexico (47%) and the UK (39%). $10 million alone came from 525 IMAX screens, a record for a PG and April release. It further continued to hold the top spot in its third weekend after adding another $98.9 million from 53 territories, falling only by a marginal 32%. IMAX generated another $6.1 million from 484 IMAX theaters for a three weekend total of $20.6 million. After three straight No. 1 runs, it was finally dethroned by the studio's own *Captain America: Civil War* in its fourth weekend.

In India, it scored the second biggest opening day for a Hollywood film, earning $1.51 million (behind *Avengers: Age of Ultron*) from around 1,500 screens and went on to score the second biggest Hollywood opening weekend of all time film, with $8.4 million from 1,600 screens, behind only *Furious 7* in terms of local as well as U.S. currency, performing better than expected and its initial $5–6 million opening projection. Its opening weekend in India alone surpassed the entire lifetime total of Disney's other live-fantasy adaptations—*Cinderella*, *Maleficent*, *Oz the Great and Powerful* and *Alice in Wonderland*—in the country. It then went on to score the biggest opening and single week for a Hollywood film with $15.1 million. In just 10 days, it became the fourth highest-grossing Hollywood film there with $21.2 million. On Wednesday, April 19 – its twelfth day of release – it surpassed *Furious 7* to become the highest-grossing Hollywood/foreign release of all time in India in terms of local currency.

In China, where the film is locally known as *Fantasy Forest*, expectations are high, with projections going as high $154–200 million or more. Disney recently had an unprecedented run at the box office with *Zootopia*, in which anthropomorphic animals were the central figure. *Forbes* noted that *The Jungle Book* was precisely the sort of film that Chinese audiences love with its 3D visuals, heartwarming story, and talking animal cast. It earned around $12 million on its opening day, including $300,000 worth of previews from 65,000 screenings. Buoyed by good word of mouth and positive reception (albeit mostly from audiences with polarized reception from Chinese critics), it rose 72% on its second day to $20 million. Through its opening weekend it grossed $48.5 million, including $5.1 million from 279 IMAX screens, a new record for April release. Its opening marked the second-biggest for a family film (behind *Kung Fu Panda 3*), the second biggest April debut (behind *Furious 7*), and the fourth biggest Disney opening, behind *Avengers: Age of Ultron*, *Iron Man 3*, and *Star Wars: The Force Awakens*. It topped the daily box office through the whole opening week and went on to remain at the top of the box office for a second weekend, after dropping by a mere 20% to $29.8 million, despite facing some competitions.

In the United Kingdom and Ireland, it had an opening weekend total of £9.9 million ($14.1 million) from 594 theaters and in France with $8.1 million. Elsewhere, the highest openings were recorded in Russia and the CIS ($7.4 million), Germany ($5.1 million), Spain ($3.9 million), Australia ($2.8 million), Argentina ($2.3 million), and in Malaysia, where it scored the biggest opening weekend for a live-action Disney film with $2.3 million. In the UK, it became the first film of 2016 to earn over £5 million in three straight weekends and the first film since *Jurassic World*, *Spectre* and *Star Wars: The Force Awakens* (all 2015 films) to achieve such an accomplishment.

In total earnings, its biggest market outside of North America are China ($147.3 million), the United Kingdom ($53.4 million), India ($36.3 million), Mexico ($22 million) and France ($21.5 million). It will be released in South Korea on June 9, and in Japan on August 11.

### Critical response

*The Jungle Book* received critical acclaim, with praise aimed at its visual effects, Debney's musical score, the performances of the voice cast, Favreau's direction, and its faithfulness to both the animated film and original Kipling works. On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 95%, based on 237 reviews, with an average rating of 7.7/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "As lovely to behold as it is engrossing to watch, *The Jungle Book* is the remake that actually improves upon its predecessors – all while setting a new standard for CGI." On Metacritic, the film has a score of 77 out of 100, based on 49 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale. 97% of the audience gave the film an A or a B. It got As from both the under- and over-25 crowd and A+ among those under 18 years of age, and also for the over-50 audience.

Todd McCarthy of *The Hollywood Reporter* wrote, "Exceptionally beautiful to behold and bolstered by a stellar vocal cast, this umpteenth film rendition of Rudyard Kipling's tales of young Mowgli's adventures amongst the creatures of the Indian jungle proves entirely engaging, even if it's ultimately lacking in subtext and thematic heft." Andrew Barker of *Variety* felt that this version "can't rival the woolly looseness of Disney's 1967 animated classic, of course, but it succeeds on its own so well that such comparisons are barely necessary." Robbie Collin of *The Telegraph* gave the film four stars out of five, and deemed it "a sincere and full-hearted adaptation that returns to Kipling for fresh inspiration." Alonso Duralde of *The Wrap* says "This 'Book' might lack the post-vaudeville razzamatazz of its predecessor, but director Jon Favreau and a team of effects wizards plunge us into one of the big screen's most engrossing artificial worlds since *Avatar*." Peter Bradshaw, writing for *The Guardian*, gave the film four out of five stars and felt that the film had a touch of *Apocalypto* in it, finding the plot elements to be similar with *The Lion King*. He wrote that the film was "spectacular, exciting, funny and fun" and that it "handsomely revives the spirit of Disney's original film". Pete Hammond of Deadline.com wrote that the film had laughs, excitement, an exceptional voice cast and, most importantly, a lot of heart, calling it a cinematic achievement like no other. He particularly praised Murray's performance and the visual effects, deeming it "simply astonishing". Chris Nashawaty of *Entertainment Weekly* graded the film an "A-", calling it one of the biggest surprises of 2016. However, he felt the two songs that were sung rather unnecessarily, and distracting, and believed the film to be a bit too scary for children.

Richard Roeper of *Chicago Sun-Times* awarded the film three and a half stars, pointing out the CGI as the apex achievement of the film. He labelled it "a beautifully rendered, visually arresting take on Rudyard Kipling's oft-filmed tales" but found the musical numbers to be trivial, saying that without the musical numbers, the film might have been a more exhilarating streamlined adventure. *Los Angeles Times*' Kenneth Turan remarked that "*The Jungle Book* is the kind of family film calculated to make even those without families wish they had one to take along." Peter Travers of *Rolling Stone* awarded the film three and a half stars out of four, labeling it scary and thrilling, yet unique and unforgettable, and adding that it "fills us with something rare in movies today — a sense of wonder." *The Village Voice*'s Bilge Ebiri hailed the film as fast and light and that it "manages to be just scary enough to make us feel the danger of solitude in the middle of a massive jungle, but never indulgent or gratuitous." *The New York Times*' Manohla Dargis was less enthusiastic. Cath Clarke of *Time Out* compared Elba's character of Shere Khan to Scar from *The Lion King*, calling him "baddie of the year". Matt Zoller Seitz of rogerebert.com also had high praise for Elba's portrayal of Shere Khan stating: "His loping menace is envisioned so powerfully that he'd be scary no matter what, but the character becomes a great villain through imaginative empathy." "-we understand and appreciate his point-of-view even though carrying it out would mean the death of Mowgli."

The film's visual effects and 3D photography received acclaim, with comparisons being made to the likes of *Avatar*, *Gravity*, *Hugo*, and *Life of Pi*. Mike Ryan of Uproxx stated that "*The Jungle Book* is one of those handful of movies that belongs in 3D". Sarah Ward of *Screen International* wrote that the level of detail on display in the film "is likely to evoke the same jaw-dropping reaction as James Cameron's box office topper." *Entertainment Weekly* called it "one of the few 3-D movies that actually benefits from being in 3-D." The film also garnered a positive reception from Indian contemporary critics and publications, such as *The Times of India*, *The Hindu*, *India Today*, *The Indian Express*, and *The Economic Times*.

## Sequel

Following the film's early financial and critical success, the studio has begun working on a sequel. Favreau is reported to return as director and Neel Sethi is reported to reprise his role of Mowgli, while screenwriter Justin Marks is also in negotiations to return. It was announced on April 25, 2016 that Favreau and Marks will return to direct and write, and the sequel could potentially have a release sometime between 2017 to 2019.