The Jungle Book (franchise)

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Disney's The Jungle Book
The Jungle Book (Disney franchise) logo.svg
Logo used for the 2016 film
Created by Walt Disney Animation Studios
Rudyard Kipling (original stories and characters)
Original work The Jungle Book (1967)
Owner The Walt Disney Company
Based on The Jungle Book
by Rudyard Kipling
Films and television
Film(s)
Animated series
Direct-to-video The Jungle Book: Mowgli's Story (1998)
Games
Video game(s)
Audio
Soundtrack(s)
Original music
Miscellaneous
Theme park attraction(s) The Jungle Book: Alive with Magic (2016)
* Work where this franchise's characters or settings appeared as part of a crossover.

The Jungle Book is a Disney media franchise that commenced in 1967 with the theatrical release of the 1967 feature film. It is based on Rudyard Kipling's works of the same name. The franchise includes a 2003 sequel to the animated film and three live-action films produced by Walt Disney Pictures.

Contents

Animated films

The Jungle Book

The Jungle Book is a 1967 animated musical comedy film produced by Walt Disney Productions. Inspired by Rudyard Kipling's classic 1894 The Jungle Book , it was directed by Wolfgang Reitherman. It was the last film to be produced by Walt Disney, who died during its production.

In this animated musical film adaptation of Rudyard Kipling's stories, Mowgli, an abandoned child raised by wolves, has his peaceful existence threatened by the return of the man-eating tiger Shere Khan. Facing certain death, Mowgli must overcome his reluctance to leave his wolf family and return to the "man village", but he is not alone on his quest: aided by Bagheera the wise panther, and later by the carefree bear Baloo, he braves the jungle's many perils.

The Jungle Book 2

The Jungle Book 2 is a 2003 animated adventure musical comedy film produced by DisneyToon Studios. The theatrical version of the film was released in France on February 5, 2003, and released in the United States on February 14. Also inspired by Rudyard Kipling's classic children's books, the film is a sequel to the 1967 animated musical film The Jungle Book , and stars Haley Joel Osment as the voice of Mowgli and John Goodman as the voice of Baloo.

Wild child Mowgli has grown fidgety with his life in the "man village", so he sneaks back to the jungle to be with his animal friends, like the beloved bear Baloo. Mowgli's disappearance, however, worries the villagers who raise him, so his friends, Shanti and Ranjan, journeys into the jungle to find him. But all is not well there. Mowgli's old foe, the fierce tiger Shere Khan, is out to get revenge on him, being more determined to kill him than ever.

Live-action original films

Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book

Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book is a 1994 live-action film co-written and directed by Stephen Sommers, based on the Mowgli stories in The Jungle Book and The Second Jungle Book written by Rudyard Kipling. The film stars Jason Scott Lee as Mowgli, Cary Elwes as his adversary Captain Boone, and Lena Headey as Mowgli's eventual love interest Kitty. Also appearing in the film were Sam Neill, John Cleese, Jason Flemyng and Ron Donachie.

When his father is killed by a jungle tiger, Mowgli is orphaned and grows up in the wild, raised by beloved animals. Years later, the bracelet given to him by his childhood friend, Kitty, is stolen. In pursuing it, he discovers Monkey City with all its treasures. He is reunited with Kitty, but struggles to adapt to civilization. When Kitty's unscrupulous suitor, Capt. Boone, attempts to raid the jungle of its treasures, Mowgli's life is imperiled.

The Jungle Book: Mowgli's Story

The Jungle Book: Mowgli's Story is a 1998 live-action direct-to-video film based on Rudyard Kipling's book of the same name. The film chronicles the life of the boy named Mowgli (portrayed by Brandon Baker) from the time he lived with humans as an infant to the time when he rediscovered humans again as a teenager. Animal companions, including Baloo (Brian Doyle-Murray), Bagheera (Eartha Kitt), Hathi (Marty Ingels), and many more, guide Mowgli in the wilds of India and protect him against Shere Khan (Sherman Howard).

Live-action remake films

The Jungle Book

The Jungle Book is 2016 fantasy adventure film directed by Jon Favreau, written by Justin Marks, and produced by Walt Disney Pictures. The film stars Neel Sethi as Mowgli and features the voices of Bill Murray as Baloo, Ben Kingsley as Bagheera, Idris Elba as Shere Khan, Scarlett Johansson as Kaa, Lupita Nyong'o as Raksha, Giancarlo Esposito as Akela, and Christopher Walken as King Louie. The film was released on April 15, 2016 to critical acclaim.

After a fierce tiger threatens his life, Mowgli, an orphan boy raised by wolves, leaves his jungle home and, guided by a stern panther and a free-spirited bear, sets out on a journey of self-discovery.

The Jungle Book sequel

Following the film's early financial and critical successes, the studio has begun work on a sequel film. Favreau is reported to return as director, while screenwriter Justin Marks is also in negotiations to return and planned to shoot it back to back with The Lion King remake, but as of 2023 there hasn't been any news on the sequel since then. [2] [3] [4] [5]

Television

TaleSpin

TaleSpin is a half-hour animated adventure series based in the fictional city of Cape Suzette, that first aired in 1990 as a preview on The Disney Channel and later that year as part of The Disney Afternoon, with characters adapted from the 1967 animated film The Jungle Book .

Baloo, King Louie and Shere Khan operate businesses in Cape Suzette.

Jungle Cubs

Jungle Cubs is an whimsical animated series produced by Disney for ABC in 1996. It was based on their 1967 animated film The Jungle Book , but set in the youth of the animal characters. The show was a hit, running for two seasons in syndication before moving its re-runs to the Disney Channel. The show was broadcast on Toon Disney, but was taken off the schedule in 2001. The show did air in the United Kingdom on Disney Cinemagic and in Latin America until it was removed. The show's theme song is a hip-hop version of "The Bare Necessities" performed by Lou Rawls.

Animal children cope with life on their own in the wild.

Video games

TaleSpin

TaleSpin is a 1991 video game published by Capcom for the Nintendo Entertainment System. It is based on the children's animated series with the same name. TaleSpin was also released by Capcom on the Game Boy. Sega released its own versions of TaleSpin on the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis and Sega Game Gear. NEC also made one for their TurboGrafx-16 system. This game involves the adventures of Baloo and Kit Cloudkicker, two bears delivering cargo for Rebecca Cunningham, another bear. However, Shere Khan, the evil tiger tycoon, wants to put Rebecca out of business, so he hires air pirates, led by Don Karnage, to do his dirty work.

The Jungle Book

The Jungle Book is a series of video games based on the 1967 film, primarily released in 1994. It was first released by Virgin Interactive in 1993 for the Master System. Conversions for the Game Boy, NES (for which it was one of the last titles released by a third-party developer), Sega Mega Drive/Genesis, Sega Game Gear, Super NES, and PC followed in 1994, and a remake for the Game Boy Advance was released in 2003. While gameplay is the same on all versions, technological differences between the systems forced changes – in some case drastic – in level design, resulting in six fairly different versions of the 'same' game.

The Jungle Book Groove Party

The Jungle Book Groove Party is a music rhythm video game developed by Ubisoft and published by Disney Interactive for PlayStation and PlayStation 2. Featuring similar gameplay to the Dance Dance Revolution series, the game features characters and songs from the 1967 animated film The Jungle Book. The game was packaged with a dance pad.

Kinect: Disneyland Adventures

Kinect: Disneyland Adventures is a 2011 motion-controlled open world video game for Kinect for Xbox 360 developed by Frontier Developments and published by Microsoft Studios. The game takes place in Disneyland Park. Baloo and Mowgli from the 1967 animated film The Jungle Book appear as meet-and-greet characters in Adventureland within the game.

Disney Infinity

Disney Infinity was an action-adventure toys-to-life video game series that ran from 2013 to 2016 developed by Avalanche Software and published by Disney Interactive Studios. The 1967 animated film The Jungle Book was referenced throughout the series starting from the second game, Disney Infinity 2.0 (2014), with in-game toys and power discs based on the film's characters and settings. In 2016, a Baloo figure was released for the console and later on mobile versions of Disney Infinity 3.0 (2015), which required a downloadable content update to use. Although the figure was released to promote the 2016 live-action film, it is based on the 1967 version of the character.

Disney Magic Kingdoms

The world builder game Disney Magic Kingdoms includes Mowgli, Bagheera, Baloo, Shere Khan and King Louie as playable characters, along with some attractions based on the film, including Baloo's Oasis, Jungle River Drift, and Kaa's Jungle Gym (featuring Kaa as a non-player character). In the game the characters are involved in new storylines that serve as a continuation of The Jungle Book (ignoring other material from the franchise). [6] [7]

Disney Mirrorverse

An alternate version of Baloo, based on his TaleSpin persona, appears as a playable character in the video game Disney Mirrorverse. [8]

Music

The Jungle Book soundtrack

The Jungle Book soundtrack has been released in three different versions since the film's release in 1967. The film score was composed by George Bruns, with songs written by Terry Gilkyson and the Sherman Brothers.

More Jungle Book

In 1968, Disneyland Records released the album More Jungle Book (given the subtitle ...Further Adventures of Baloo and Mowgli), an unofficial sequel also written by screenwriter Larry Simmons, which continued the story of the film, and included Phil Harris and Louis Prima voicing their film roles. In the record, Baloo (Harris) is missing Mowgli (Ginny Tyler), so he teams up with King Louie (Prima) and Bagheera (Dal McKennon) to take him from the man village. Four new songs were composed for the record, two of which ("Baloo's Blues" and "It's a Kick") made appearances as bonus tracks on CD versions of the soundtrack to the original The Jungle Book.

Theme park attractions

The Jungle Book: Alive with Magic

A nighttime show based on the 2016 live-action film, The Jungle Book: Alive with Magic, taking place at Disney's Animal Kingdom, [9] opened on May 28, 2016, with soft opening date one night earlier. It filled the space of the delayed Rivers of Light night-time show. [10] The attraction was closed months later on September 5.

Meet and greets

Baloo and King Louie appear at all the Disney Parks for meet and greets. They are located in Adventureland and Disney's Animal Kingdom. Mowgli has also appeared in parades and occasional meet and greets, but has become less common in recent years.

Cast and characters

List indicator(s)
CharactersAnimated filmsTelevision seriesLive-action films
The Jungle Book The Jungle Book 2 TaleSpin Jungle Cubs The Jungle Book The Jungle Book: Mowgli's Story The Jungle Book
Season 1 Season 2
Mowgli Bruce Reitherman Haley Joel Osment Jason Scott Lee Brandon Baker Neel Sethi
Sean Naegeli Y Ryan Taylor Y Kendrick Reyes Y
Baloo Phil Harris John Goodman Ed Gilbert Pamela Segall Casey Brian Doyle-Murray V Bill Murray V
Shannon Shea [a]
Bagheera Sebastian Cabot Bob Joles E.G. Dailey Dee Bradley Baker Shadow Eartha Kitt V Ben Kingsley V
Shere Khan George Sanders Tony Jay Jason Marsden Bombay Sherman Howard V Idris Elba V
King Louie Louis Prima Silent cameo Jim Cummings Jason Marsden Cree Summer Lowell Christopher Walken V
Kaa Sterling Holloway Jim CummingsJim CummingsComputer-generated Python Scarlett Johansson V
Hathi J. Pat O'Malley Rob Paulsen Stephen Furst Marty Ingels V
Flaps Chad Stuart Brian Cummings
Dizzy Lord Tim Hudson Jess Harnell
Ziggy Digby Wolfe
BuzzyJ. Pat O'Malley Jeff Glen Bennett
Hathi, Jr. Clint Howard Jimmy Bennett
Akela John Abbot Rob Paulsen Clancy Brown V Giancarlo Esposito V
Winifred Verna Felton Kath Soucie
Raksha Silent cameo Peri Gilpin V Lupita Nyong'o V
Shanti Darleen Carr Mae Whitman
RanjanConnor Funk
Lucky Phil Collins
MessuaVeena Bidasha
Village Leader John Rhys-Davies
Grey BrotherShannonBrighton Rose V
Tabaqui Anirudh Agarwal Stephen Tobolowsky V
  1. ↑ Shannon Shea served as Baloo's body double in certain scenes.

Reception

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mowgli</span> Fictional character created by Rudyard Kipling

Mowgli is a fictional character and the protagonist of the Mowgli stories featured among Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book stories. He is a feral boy from the Pench area in Seoni, Madhya Pradesh, India, who originally appeared in Kipling's short story "In the Rukh" and then became the most prominent character in the collections The Jungle Book and The Second Jungle Book (1894–1895), which also featured stories about other characters.

<i>The Jungle Book</i> 1894 childrens book by Rudyard Kipling

The Jungle Book is an 1894 collection of stories by the English author Rudyard Kipling. Most of the characters are animals such as Shere Khan the tiger and Baloo the bear, though a principal character is the boy or "man-cub" Mowgli, who is raised in the jungle by wolves. Most stories are set in a forest in India; one place mentioned repeatedly is "Seeonee" (Seoni), in the central state of Madhya Pradesh.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">King Louie</span> Fictional character in The Jungle Book films

King Louie is a fictional character introduced in Walt Disney's animated musical film The Jungle Book. He is an orangutan who leads other jungle primates and wants to become more human-like by gaining knowledge of fire from Mowgli. King Louie is an original character not featured in Rudyard Kipling's original works.

Raksha (<i>The Jungle Book</i>) Fictional character

Raksha is a fictional character featured in Rudyard Kipling's Mowgli stories, collected in The Jungle Book and The Second Jungle Book.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Baloo</span> Fictional sloth bear

Baloo is a main fictional character featured in Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book from 1894 and The Second Jungle Book from 1895. Baloo, a sloth bear, is the strict teacher of the cubs of the Seeonee wolf pack. His most challenging pupil is the "man-cub" Mowgli. Baloo and Bagheera, the panther, save Mowgli from Shere Khan, the tiger, and endeavour to teach Mowgli the Law of the Jungle in many of The Jungle Book stories.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bagheera</span> Fictional panther from Kiplings Jungle Book

Bagheera is a fictional character in Rudyard Kipling's Mowgli stories in The Jungle Book and The Second Jungle Book. He is a black panther who serves as friend, protector and mentor to the "man-cub" Mowgli. The word bagheera is Hindi for panther or leopard, although the root word bagh means any form of panthera and is nowadays mostly used to refer to the Royal Bengal tiger.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kaa</span> Fictional animal character

Kaa is a fictional character from The Jungle Book stories written by Rudyard Kipling. He is a giant snake who is 30 ft (9.1 m) long.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shere Khan</span> Fictional tiger in "The Jungle Book"

Shere Khan is a fictional Bengal tiger in Rudyard Kipling's Jungle Book and its adaptations, in which he is often portrayed as the main antagonist, itself an exaggeration of his role in the original stories, which he only appears in a third of. The name roughly translates as tiger ruler, with shere being the Persian word for 'tiger'), and khan being used as a title of distinction among the Turco-Mongol peoples, usually meaning chief or ruler. According to The Kipling Society, the name "show[s] that he is the chief among tigers". Shere Khan is named after Afghan Emperor Sher Shah Suri.

<i>The Jungle Book</i> (1967 film) 1967 animated Disney film

The Jungle Book is a 1967 American animated musical adventure film produced by Walt Disney Productions and released by Buena Vista Distribution. Based very loosely on the "Mowgli" stories from Rudyard Kipling's 1894 book of the same name, it is the final animated feature film to be produced by Walt Disney, who died during its production. It was directed by Wolfgang Reitherman and written by Larry Clemmons, Ralph Wright, Ken Anderson, and Vance Gerry. Featuring the voices of Phil Harris, Sebastian Cabot, Louis Prima, George Sanders, and Sterling Holloway, the film's plot follows Mowgli, a feral child raised in the Indian jungle by wolves, as his friends, Bagheera the panther and Baloo the bear, try to convince him to leave the jungle before the ruthless tiger Shere Khan arrives.

<i>The Jungle Book 2</i> 2003 Disney animated film directed by Steve Trenbirth

The Jungle Book 2 is a 2003 animated adventure film produced by the Australian office at DisneyToon Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures and Buena Vista Distribution. The film was released in France on February 5, 2003, and released in the United States on February 14.

<i>The Jungle Book</i> (1994 film) 1994 film by Stephen Sommers

Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book, also known as The Jungle Book, is a 1994 American adventure film co-written and directed by Stephen Sommers, produced by Edward S. Feldman and Raju Patel, from a story by Ronald Yanover and Mark Geldman. Distributed by Buena Vista Pictures, it is a live-action adaptation of Walt Disney's 1967 animated film The Jungle Book, and of the Mowgli stories from The Jungle Book (1894) and The Second Jungle Book (1895) by Rudyard Kipling. Unlike its counterparts, the animal characters in this film do not talk.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bandar-log</span> Fictional term from The Jungle Book

Bandar-log is a term used in Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book (1894) to describe the monkeys of the Seeonee jungle.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hathi</span> Jungle Book character

Hathi is a fictional character created by Rudyard Kipling for the Mowgli stories collected in The Jungle Book (1894) and The Second Jungle Book (1895). Hathi is an elephant that lives in the Seeoni jungle. Kipling named him after hāthī (हाथी), the Hindi word for "elephant".

<i>Adventures of Mowgli</i> 1967 Soviet film

Adventures of Mowgli is an animated feature-length story originally released as five animated shorts of about 20 minutes each between 1967 and 1971 in the Soviet Union. It is based on Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book. They were directed by Roman Davydov and made by Soyuzmultfilm studio. In 1973, the five films were combined into a single 96-minute feature film. The Russian DVD release of the restored footage, distributed by "Krupnyy Plan" and "Lizard", separates the animation into the original five parts.

Akela (<i>The Jungle Book</i>) Fictional wolf from Rudyard Kiplings Jungle Book Franchise

Akela is a fictional character in Rudyard Kipling's stories, The Jungle Book (1894) and The Second Jungle Book (1895). He is the leader of the Seeonee pack of Indian wolves and presides over the pack's council meetings. It is at such a meeting that the pack adopts the lost child Mowgli and Akela becomes one of Mowgli's mentors.

<i>The Jungle Book: Mowglis Story</i> 1998 film by Nick Marck

The Jungle Book: Mowgli's Story is a 1998 American adventure film directed by Nick Marck, produced by Mark H. Orvitz, and written by José Rivera and Jim Herzfeld. It is the third film adaptation by The Walt Disney Company of the Mowgli stories from The Jungle Book (1894) by Rudyard Kipling. It stars Brandon Baker, and features the voice work of Brian Doyle-Murray, Eartha Kitt, Clancy Brown, Peri Gilpin, and Sherman Howard.

<i>The Jungle Book</i> (2010 TV series) 3D CGI animated television series

The Jungle Book is a 3D CGI animated television series co-produced by DQ Entertainment International, MoonScoop, Ellipsanime Productions, ZDF, ZDF Enterprises, TF1 and Les Cartooneurs Associés. It is based on the Rudyard Kipling book of the same name.

<i>Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle</i> 2018 film directed by Andy Serkis

Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle is a 2018 adventure drama film directed by Andy Serkis with a screenplay by Callie Kloves, based on stories collected in All the Mowgli Stories by Rudyard Kipling. The film stars Rohan Chand, Matthew Rhys, and Freida Pinto, along with voice and motion-capture performances from Christian Bale, Cate Blanchett, Benedict Cumberbatch, Naomie Harris, and Serkis. In the film, an orphaned human boy who was raised by wolves, sets out on a journey to find a human village while evading Shere Khan.

<i>The Jungle Book</i> (2016 film) 2016 film by Jon Favreau

The Jungle Book is a 2016 American fantasy adventure film directed and produced by Jon Favreau, written by Justin Marks and produced by Walt Disney Pictures. It is a live-action animated remake of Disney's 1967 animated film The Jungle Book, which itself is loosely based on Rudyard Kipling's story collection The Jungle Book. Neel Sethi plays Mowgli, the 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 includes voice and motion capture performances from Bill Murray, Ben Kingsley, Idris Elba, Lupita Nyong'o, Scarlett Johansson, Giancarlo Esposito, and Christopher Walken.

References

  1. ↑ ""It's been in the planning stages for a while"". Twitter. Retrieved 2023-06-11.
  2. ↑ Kit, Borys (April 11, 2016). "'Jungle Book 2' in the Works With Jon Favreau, Justin Marks (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved April 12, 2016.
  3. ↑ McClintock, Pamela (April 25, 2016). "Disney Stakes Out Release Dates for 'Jungle Book 2', 'Maleficent 2' and More". The Hollywood Reporter . Retrieved April 25, 2016.
  4. ↑ Lang, Brent (April 25, 2016). "Disney Claims Dates for Several New Movies; Confirms 'Jungle Book 2', 'Mary Poppins' Sequel". Variety . Retrieved April 25, 2016.
  5. ↑ Foutch, Haleigh (December 1, 2016). "Jon Favreau Offers Updates on 'The Lion King' and 'The Jungle Book 2'". Collider.
  6. ↑ "Update 12: The Lion King | Livestream". YouTube. June 26, 2017.
  7. ↑ "Update 14: The Jungle Book | Trailer". YouTube. September 27, 2017.
  8. ↑ "Baloo - Disney Mirrorverse". Kabam. May 2021.
  9. ↑ Fickley-Baker, Jennifer. "Disney's Animal Kingdom Awakens at Night With New 'Jungle Book' Show, Parties & Attractions Starting Memorial Day Weekend". Disney Parks Blog. Archived from the original on April 28, 2016. Retrieved 20 April 2016.
  10. ↑ Bevil, Dewayne. "Disney previews 'Rivers of Light', announces 'Jungle Book' show". OrlandoSentinel.com. Retrieved 20 April 2016.
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