Yesterday, we brought you the first in a series of three new character posters for Disney’s upcoming live-action retelling of Rudyard Kipling’s classic The Jungle Book. The first poster focused on King Louie, who will be voiced by Christopher Walken, and the serpent Kaa, now a female character and voiced by Scarlett Johansson.
Today Disney is revealing the second of in their Jungle Book triptych, with a poster focusing on the fearsome tiger Shere Khan, who will be played by Idris Elba. Also in the poster looming in the background seem to be Mowgli’s wolf family of Raksha and Akela, played by Lupita Nyong’o and Giancarlo Esposito, respectively.
Iron Man 1 and 2 director Jon Favreau is bringing the beloved classic to life again on the big screen, and is being helped out by some of Hollywood’s biggest stars. Aside from the already mentioned actors, The Jungle Book is also employing the voice talents of Sir Ben Kingsley as the panther Bagheera, and Bill Murray as Baloo the bear.
Richard M. Sherman, who wrote songs for the original 1967 film alongside his late brother Robert B. Sherman, is also returning to write new songs for this film. Two of the original animated film’s most famous songs are confirmed to be included already, as Bill Murray’s Baloo will be singing “The Bare Necessities,” and Kaa the serpent will be singing the hypnotic “Trust In Me.”
Will The Jungle Book follow in the successful steps of similar live-action adaptations of classic Disney animated fare like Cinderella and Maleficent? We’ll find out when the film is released on April 15th. In the meantime, you can check out the second of three posters below:
IMAGE: Walt Disney Pictures
