Disney's live adaptation of their 1967 classic film "The Jungle Book" opened with a $103.6 million worldwide box office, and according to a report from Variety, this may spell doom for the other live-action version of the Rudyard Kipling story, the one set to be handled by Warner Bros. Pictures and to be directed by Andy Serkis.
The movie from Disney has already pulled in enough success for the studios to greenlight a sequel, which will see the return of Jon Favreau as the director. With one film already drawing in box office success and a sequel on the way, Warner Bros. Pictures will need to catch up and draw the interest of fans already invested in the Disney version.
"Warner Bros. has to be really concerned," explained Exhibitor Relations analyst Jeff Bock. "It could spell disaster."
As stated in the report, the Warner Bros. version, which will be helmed by motion-capture icon Serkis, will star Christian Bale, Cate Blanchett and Benedict Cumberbatch and is rumored to be an even darker take than the Disney version, potentially gaining a PG-13 rating to set it apart from Jon Favreau's take on the tale.
Variety also points out that the habit of competing studios producing and releasing similar films relatively close to each other is commonplace, with the release of "Mirror Mirror" and "Snow White and the Huntsman" as a prime example, as well as that of the close release of "White House Down" and "Olympus Has Fallen."
Warner Bros.' version was initially set to release in October 2017 but has since been pushed back a year to further distance itself from the Disney version. However, the large numbers that the Disney version is drawing in could indicate that the Warner Bros. version will have a lot of grounds to make up for in order for it to be a financial success.
