VFXWorld — February 22, 2016
Delving Into the Photoreal World of Disney’s ‘Jungle Book’ Remake
AWN was invited to see a presentation of Disney’s upcoming remake of the classic 1967 animated feature, The Jungle Book, at the El Capitan Theater in Hollywood, CA. That storied venue — the home of countless Disney premieres, stage shows and special presentations — was the perfect spot for director Jon Favreau (Iron Man) and two-time Academy Award winning visual effects supervisor Rob Legato (Avatar, Hugo) to talk about the upcoming live-action/CG hybrid feature, including the technical aspects, how their live-action Jungle Book will compare to the animated original, and the research and casting process that went into making the new film.
The Jungle Book, due in theaters April 15, is directed by Favreau from a script written by Justin Marks (Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li). The stereoscopic 3D feature, which will also be available in IMAX, is being produced by Brigham Taylor, who also produced Disney’s Tomorrowland. Working alongside cinematographer Matthew Libatique (Noah), MPC is the lead visual effects studio, with Christopher Glass and Alex McDowell (Watchmen) serving as production designers.
The film’s voice cast includes Bill Murray as the voice of Baloo the Bear, Christopher Walken as King Louie, Giancarlo Esposito as Akela, Ben Kingsley as Bagheera, Lupita Nyong’o as Raksha, Idris Elba as Shere Khan, Scarlett Johansson as Kaa, and newcomer Neel Sethi as Mowgli.
Disney has a slew of live-action remakes of classic animation properties on its development and production slate, including The Sword in the Stone, Mulan, Winnie the Pooh, Beauty and the Beast, the Tim Burton-directed Dumbo, and the “Bald Mountain” sequence in Fantasia, and the proven box office success of live-action films such as last year’s Cinderella and 2014’s Maleficent mean that audiences can expect similar projects to continue into the unforeseen future. Also in development at Disney is a Maleficent sequel, a new Peter Pan spinoff, Tink, starring Reese Witherspoon as Tinker Bell, and a live-action Prince Charming movie. Oh, and let’s not forget Alice in Wonderland. That live-action remake, also from director Tim Burton, has a sequel as well, Alice Through the Looking Glass, which arrives in theaters on May 27.
Rather than the usual clips and animatics, the presentation at the El Capitan Theater included a sneak preview of the entire film, for which anticipation has been growing since the first bits of footage were screened at the D23 Expo back in August 2015. The theater itself is one of the venues at which fans will be able to see The Jungle Book movie in Dolby Vision, a brand-new laser projection system designed in part to combat the dimming effect of 3D. (Read full story…)