We’ve known about an Andy Serkis-directed, live-action Jungle Book movie project (not to be confused with Andy Serkis’s motion capture Animal Farm movie) for a while now, but Warner Bros has made it official, setting an October 2016 release date. Unfortunately, the Gods of public domain giveth and the Gods of public domain taketh away, because a rival Jungle Book project from Disney is opening a year earlier. And Disney seems to be playing hardball, announcing the casting of Bill Murray and Christopher Walken the same week as the Serkis movie’s release date announcement.
Also, the title of the Serkis version is going to be Jungle Book: Origins. Hmm, why does that sound so lame and generic?
WWE Studio’s ‘Leprechaun: Origins’ Gets Theatrical Release (EXCLUSIVE)
Lionsgate and WWE Studios, which had planned to release “Leprechaun: Origins” direct to home entertainment platforms on Aug. 26, will now also give the film a limited release in theaters on Aug. 22, after a presentation for the film was well received as Comic-Con in San Diego last month. [Variety]
Ah, so your live-action adaptation of the Rudyard Kipling classic shares a naming convention with a WWE-produced reboot about a scary leprechaun? That’s just good company. But don’t worry, Warner has a fool-proof plan to really differentiate their product from the other ones on the market, something that has probably never been done before:
Steve and Callie Kloves wrote the script for Jungle Book: Origins. (You may recognize his name from the Harry Potter films.) Specifics are being kept under wraps for now, but Serkis’ film is described as being darker than the rival project being developed by Jon Favreau at Disney. [/Film]
Whoa, it’s going to be DARKER? I don’t think I’ve ever heard that before. I don’t want to get ahead of ourselves here, but could it also be “gritty?”
As the title suggests, Jungle Book: Origins is intended to launch a franchise. [/Film]
Yeah good luck with that.