Bill Murray Cast As Baloo The Bear In The Jungle Book

Disney has found the voice of Baloo the Bear in their newest adaptation of The Jungle Book which will combine live-action and animation.

Bill Murray who will lend his voice to Baloo and joins the cast that already features; Christopher Walken as King Louie, Giancarlo Esposito as Akela, Ben Kingsley as Bagheera, Lupita Nyong’o as Raksha, Idris Elba as Shere Khan; Scarlett Johansson as Kaa; and newcomer Neel Sethi as Mowgli.

The Jungle Book is based off of the Rudyard Kipling book where the bear Baloo and the panther Bagheera teach a young human boy named Mowgli the law of the jungle and save him from Shere Khan the tiger.

Baloo has been a popular character and might even surpass Mowgli as the most well known character from the original animated movie from Disney. The original movie starred Phil Harris in the role where he won kids hearts with his song “The Bear Necessities.” Disney later used the popular character as the lead in their animated series Talspin that took Baloo to new heights as a charter plane pilot.

Disney’s The Jungle Book will be directed by Jon Favreau from a script by Justin Marks and will hit theaters in 3-D on October 9, 2015. Disney announced this date shortly after Warner Bros. announced their plans for their own Jungle Book: Origins movie slotted for October 21, 2016. Kipling’s book is in the public domain, so it will be a battle of the Mowglis. Which are you most looking forward to?

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