Disney’s latest take on Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book—which is already getting accolades for its ethical treatment of CG animals—will hit theaters next week, but that adaptation isn’t the only one that has been in the works lately. Famous motion-capture creature Andy Serkis is also set to direct and star in one for Warner Bros. that will be called Jungle Book: Origins (because other generic titles like Jungle Book: Revelations and Jungle Book: Legends just sound silly). Serkis’ film was supposed to come out in October 2017, but now Deadline is reporting that Warner Bros. has delayed it for the second time and pushed it all the way back to October 2018.
The studio didn’t give a reason for this change, but Serkis posted a message on his Facebook account saying he supports the decision because he wants his Jungle Book to have “an unprecedented level of psychological and emotional nuance” thanks to the advancements in performance-capture technology that will come between now and 2018. Also, he used the phrase “off the chain,” which is pretty radical.
I’ve got to say that personally I’m absolutely thrilled that Warner Brothers have changed the delivery date of Jungle…
Posted by Andy Serkis on Wednesday, April 6, 2016
Warner Bros. has also moved the release date of its Wonder Woman movie, but the change there is significantly less dramatic—instead of opening on June 23, 2017, it’ll now be in theaters on June 2. Warner Bros. is presumably giving it that two-week boost to capitalize on the fact that Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman was one of the few things that everybody seemed to like about Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice.