New 'Jungle Book' movie a bare necessity? Sequel already afoot

Disney's reboot of its 1967 "The Jungle Book" animated musical is only just hitting cinema screens worldwide, but the team behind the live-action story already say they are talking about a sequel.

Directed by Jon Favreau, the new movie brings to life Rudyard Kipling's classic stories about young boy Mowgli, who was raised by wolves in the jungle and whose life is threatened by a bloodthirsty tiger.
 
Hollywood names Bill Murray, Ben Kingsley, Scarlett Johansson, Lupita Nyong'o and Idris Elba lend their voices as bear Baloo, panther Bagheera, snake Kaa, wolf mother Raksha and tiger Shere Khan respectively while newcomer Neel Sethi plays Mowgli.
 

Director Jon Favreau poses for photographers as he arrives at the British premiere of the film "The Jungle Book", in London, April 13, 2016. Reuters

"Sure we would love to do a sequel. We've been talking about it for months," Favreau told Reuters at the film's European premiere in London on Wednesday night.

"When a movie is this big of a production everybody kinda waits to see how the audiences receive it. If it does well I'm sure we'll figure out a way to do more chapters of it. But it's certainly something I would love to be involved with."

"The Jungle Book" mixes realistic computer-generated imagery with live-action, which at times makes for hairy scenes for young viewers. It has generated many good reviews -- a response Favreau said was "unexpectedly positive".

"This has been a really a dream team, the way this has come together," producer Brigham Taylor said. "We would certainly love to have everybody (back for a sequel)."

Actor Ben Kingsley poses for photographers as he arrives at the British premiere of the film "The Jungle Book", in London, April 13, 2016. Reuters

Also on the London green carpet, Kingsley said "yes please" to a second movie as did Sethi, who was picked out of 2,000 children for his film debut.

"Yeah definitely. I think it would be fun to do another one," he said.

The 10 year old, who has impressed critics with his green screen acting performance, said even he jumped when he watched film for the first time, throwing his popcorn in the air.

"When the tiger jumps at me I jumped in real life," he said. "It flew everywhere and it was so funny."