THE JUNGLE BOOK

The Jungle Book is a 1967 American animated film produced by Walt Disney Productions. Inspired by Rudyard Kiplings book of the same name, it is the 19th animated feature in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series. Directed by Wolfgang Reitherman, it was the last film to be produced by Walt Disney, who died during its production. The plot follows Mowgli, a feral child raised in the Indian jungle by wolves, as his friends Bagheera the panther and Baloo the bear try to convince him into leaving the jungle before the evil tiger Shere Khan arrives.\r
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The early versions of both the screenplay and the soundtrack followed Kiplings work more closely, with a dramatic, dark, and sinister tone which Disney did not want in his family film, leading to writer Bill Peet and composer Terry Gilkyson being replaced. The casting employed famous actors and musicians Phil Harris, Sebastian Cabot, George Sanders and Louis Prima, as well as Disney regulars such as Sterling Holloway, J. Pat OMalley and Verna Felton, and the directors son, Bruce Reitherman, as Mowgli.\r
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The Jungle Book was released on October 18, 1967, to positive reception, with acclaim for its soundtrack, featuring five songs by the Sherman Brothers and one by Gilkyson, The Bare Necessities. The film grossed over $73 million in the United States in its first release, and as much again from two re-releases. Disney released a live-action remake in 1994 and a theatrical sequel, The Jungle Book 2, in 2003; a live-action adaptation is set for release in 2016.