Live-Action Jungle Book in the Works

[Electrix]

LONDON -- Pathe and the BBC are joining forces to back a new $50 million live action movie based on Rudyard Kipling’s "The Jungle Book."The project will be directed by veteran BBC natural history film-maker John Downer, from a script by Richard Kurti and Bev Doyle. Michelle Fox ("102 Dalmatians") will produce for Downer’s company.

Downer, whose lion drama-doc "Pride" was nominated for an Emmy in 2004, has pioneered the technique of filming animals in the wild, and using CGI manipulation to make them appear to talk.
He will shoot in the Ranthambore tiger reserve in India, and will intercut this footage with photography of trained animals shot both on jungle sets in the U.K. and against blue screens.

Preparation for the film will start this September, but because of the lengthy process it will take two years to complete.

Kipling’s "Jungle Books" tell the well-known story of Mowgli, a boy raised by wolves. He’s kidnapped by monkeys, and rescued by his animal friends, including Baloo the Bear, Bagheera the panther and Kaa the python. But when it comes to fighting the tiger Sher Khan, Mowgli must do that on his own.

"My ambition is to use pioneering digital and wildlife filming techniques to portray one of the greatest stories of all time just as the author intended -- with real live talking animals inhabiting the jungle world of Kipling’s India," Downer said.

"The script is full of thrills and humor, but it also reminds us of our place in nature and our duty to protect the wild places of the world."

Pathe will distribute the film in the U.K. and France, and handle sales in the rest of the world.

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117970122.html?categoryid=13&cs=1

 

[Hunter Rider]

http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=36285

Source: Variety
August 13, 2007


Pathe and the BBC are joining forces to back a $50 million live-action movie based on Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book.

The project will be directed by BBC natural-history filmmaker John Downer from a script by Richard Kurti and Bev Doyle. Michelle Fox (102 Dalmatians) will produce for Downer's company.

Downer, whose lion drama-documentary Pride was nominated for an Emmy in 2004, has pioneered the technique of filming animals in the wild and then using CGI manipulation to make them appear to talk.

He will shoot in the Ranthambore Tiger Reserve in India and intercut this footage with footage of trained animals shot both on jungle sets in the U.K. and against bluescreens.

Preparation for the film will start in September, with the entire production process taking two years to complete.

Kipling's "Jungle Books" tell the story of Mowgli, a boy raised by wolves. He's kidnapped by monkeys and rescued by his animal friends, including Baloo the Bear, Bagheera the panther and Kaa the python. But when it comes to fighting the tiger Sher Khan, Mowgli must do that on his own.

 

[Untilteld]

awesome, thanks hunter for the good news

 

[Jackasscoley15]

http://forums.superherohype.com/showthread.php?t=281696

 

[J. J. Jameson]

Buttflaps! Oh snapz!

 

[Majik1387]

Again?
Didn't the first one suck enough?

 

[Hunter Rider]

http://forums.superherohype.com/showthread.php?t=281696

Whoops, no one loved the first thread it seems

 

[BatMatt]

...again?

 

[Jackasscoley15]

*gasp* You killed it.

 

[Leto Atrides]

I would think it would be pretty hard to have the animals talk in anything other than a full comedy and have it work. If the director can make it work, more power to him, but it's seems a very tough proposal. I love Kipling and it would be interesting to see a literal version of the book, but we'll see how that works out.

 

[Galactus]

Why does it feels like there are a dozen or so books that Hollywood are filming over and over and over and over again? Depressing.

 

[Movies205]

Why does it feels like there are a dozen or so books that Hollywood are filming over and over and over and over again? Depressing.

You realize this isn't a hollywood film

 

[Venomfan]

I would think it would be pretty hard to have the animals talk in anything other than a full comedy and have it work. If the director can make it work, more power to him, but it's seems a very tough proposal. I love Kipling and it would be interesting to see a literal version of the book, but we'll see how that works out.

i thought Narnia did a pretty good job with it

 

[Lord Blackbolt]

They already did THREE live action movies on this.

 

[Leto Atrides]

i thought Narnia did a pretty good job with it

I forgot about that, they did it well in that. But still, with the way they are describing it, I think it would be hard to reconcile nature footage/documentary director with the animals talking.

 

[BloodyWolverine]

Isn't there a movie The Jungle Book a live action version i think Sam Neill was in it and my point is do we need another one. I can see if they want mor emoney in it it woudl be cool. But 50 million will be small film compared to todays budgets.
Go for it for it may be good for Stadust had a 70 million dollar budget.

 

[Jspider13]

Isn't there a movie The Jungle Book a live action version i think Sam Neill was in it and my point is do we need another one. I can see if they want mor emoney in it it woudl be cool. But 50 million will be small film compared to todays budgets.
Go for it for it may be good for Stadust had a 70 million dollar budget.

that's what I was thinking.

 

[Timstuff]

Bah. The one Stephen Sommers directed with Jason Scott Lee was pretty cool, even if it wasn't like the book. I just don't get why we have to keep getting dozens of re-tellings of these classic books over and over again.

 

[BloodyWolverine]

I'd rather see the oldy Treasure Island redone to show how a real dickens pirate movie should be made.

It could work for a cheaper lets say 150 million dollar budget. I don't mean a cartoon but a reboot of the disney Classic.

 

[chaseter]

We have had enough Jungle Book movies...And I agree that Treasure Island needs to be remade.

 

[Jackasscoley15]

See the Charleton Heston Treasure Island. Great stuff.

 

[C. Lee]

See the Charleton Heston Treasure Island. Great stuff.

One of the best versions.....and it has Christian Bale in it.


It seems too soon for another version of the Jungle Book.....the story must be in the public domain.

 

[TheVileOne]

Stephen Sommers did a live action version of THE JUNGLE BOOK starring Jason Scott Lee.

John Cleese and Cary Elwes were also in it.

 

[Timstuff]

Stephen Sommers did a live action version of THE JUNGLE BOOK starring Jason Scott Lee.

John Cleese and Cary Elwes were also in it.

Yeah, it was actually a fun and cool adventure movie. That was when Stephen Sommers was in his heyday, before he started making crap like Van Helsing.

 

[BloodyWolverine]

Summers can make a come back if he does a good job with When World Collide, Flash Gordan and GI-Joe. All 3 projuects he has been rumored to be attached too.

Geirrmo Del Toro is doing a Tarzan movie so we may get our kicks from that more so then Jungle Book movie. Maybe if they do this Jungle book make it a sequel.
Like Jungle Book to the Return Of Sheer Kahn.