Jungle Book (2018 film)

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.

Principal photography began on March 9, 2015. Warner Bros. plans to release the film in the United States on October 19, 2018.

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.