Warner Bros moving ahead with live-action Rudyard Kipling film, even though a similar project is under way at Disney
• Disney to make live action Jungle Book
• Why I love ... The Jungle Book
Mexican auteur Alejandro González Iñárritu, renowned for high-minded dramas such as Babel and 21 Grams, is being lined up to direct a big-budget adaptation of The Jungle Book, it has been reported.
The live action version of Rudyard Kipling's classic adventure would be Iñárritu's first putative blockbuster, though he has regularly shot in English – notably 21 Grams and the upcoming Birdman, a comedy starring Emma Stone and Michael Keaton.
However, this live-action Jungle Book, written by Harry Potter's Steve Kloves and back by Warner Bros, is facing serious competition in the shape of a similar project from Disney, which earlier this year was reported to have attached Iron Man's Jon Favreau as director. Disney recently confirmed an October 2015 release date for their movie, so it would appear their project is well advanced.
As Kipling's stories are in the public domain, no one studio can own them exclusively, though a head-to-head clash is never desirable. Recent experience with Snow White and the Huntsman and Mirror Mirror showed that movies based on similar material don't necessarily destroy the second film's chances: Fox's Mirror Mirror, which reached audiences first in March 2012, took $166m worldwide, while Huntsman, three months later, managed $396m worldwide.
• Disney to make live action Jungle Book