Disney’s The Jungle Book, a live-action/CGI remake of the 1967 film of the same name, was a huge success. The film is based on Rudyard Kipling’s collection of stories of the same name. The Jungle Book impressed both critics and audiences, collecting $966 million at the global box-office. It was also nominated for a number of awards, winning the award for Best Visual Effects at the 89th Academy Awards, the 22nd Critics’ Choice Awards and the 70th British Academy Film Awards. The film was directed by Jon Favreau, and written by Justin Marks. After the huge success of the first film, a sequel was announced by Disney in 2016.
The Jungle Book 2- What we know so far
Shortly after The Jungle Book released, Disney announced a sequel to the movie, owing to its huge success. Jon Favreau and Justin Marks were reportedly back as director and screenwriter respectively. Brigham Taylor was also back as producer for the second film.
The Jungle Book 2 was first supposed to be filmed back-to-back with The Lion King, which was also directed by Jon Favreau. But these plans were later scrapped so that Favreau could focus on The Lion King solely. By January 2018, it was reported that Justin Marks had completed the first draft to the script for the sequel. It would further go through Kipling’s stories, and other rejected drafts for the 1967 film. In October 2018, Neel Sethi confirmed that he will be back for the sequel, reprising his role as Mowgli.
In voice acting as well, most cast members from the first film are expected to be back for the sequel, provided their characters feature in the film. This will include Bill Murray as Baloo, Ben Kingsley as Bagheera, Lupita Nyong’o as Raksha and Scarlett Johansson as Kaa.
Release Date of The Jungle Book 2
The film was earlier supposed to be releasing in the fall of 2019, being filmed back-to-back along with The Lion King. Since that didn’t happen, the film can now be expected to release sometime in 2021, with no official release date announced as of now.