With over $825 million in the bank and counting, it’s safe to say that audiences have voted that Walt Disney‘s live action/CGI “The Jungle Book” is totally fine as it is. And indeed, the studio is quite happy as well, and looking forward to making a sequel. But this makes the job over at Warner Bros. all the more difficult for their “Jungle Book: Origins,” which they’ve pushed back to a 2018 release date, and enlisted the help of Alfonso Cuaron to give notes and make sure it’s awesome. But what will be the big difference between WB’s movie and Disney’s? Grittiness, according to director Andy Serkis.
“It’s a PG-13, more a kind of ‘[Planet Of The] Apes‘ movie, a slightly darker take, closer to Rudyard Kipling‘s [story]” he told Vulture, adding that kids movies sometimes play it too safe in sheltering younger viewers from troubling images.
“Which is wrong,” he said. “….we shouldn’t overly protect them. Kids are so sophisticated, and that is why our ‘Jungle Book’ is quite dark…”
While I don’t disagree with Serkis’ view, it also doesn’t really matter. WB will be playing second fiddle to a hugely successful movie that is already going down the franchise path. And while ‘Origins’ may boast Benedict Cumberbatch, Christian Bale, Cate Blanchett, and Matthew Rhys among the cast, it’ll really have to mark itself as something wildly different if it’s going make an impression with a global audience who have already embraced Disney’s vision.
