Netflix snapped up the rights to Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle, a film that had been in the works for some time, earlier this year, and now it has a release date and a new trailer.
Previously, the project was originally set for an October release under Warner Bros., but in July, Netflix acquired the distribution rights, pushing the release date to a limited run in November before releasing it on Netflix.
In the trailer, you see the familiar Jungle Book story. A young boy is taken in and raised by jungle animals, but as he grows up, he grapples with the fact that he doesn’t really belong with them or with his fellow humans. Of course, this version has director, and Baloo voice actor Andy Serkis’ own spin.
This version of the film puts more of a focus on the human characters than Jon Favreau’s The Jungle Book from 2016. Mowgli stumbles into the village, where he’s taken care of by a kindly woman named Messua (Freida Pinto) and encounters the fictional version of Rudyard Kipling’s father as played by Matthew Rhys. There’s a clash between Mowgli’s human side and his animal one, and as the humans entrench upon the forest, he is forced to choose between these two sides of himself.
The voice cast features a few big names, including Christian Bale as Bagheera, Cate Blanchett as Kaa, Peter Mullan as Akela and Benedict Cumberbatch as Shere Khan. On the human side, there’s also Matthew Rhys, Freida Pinto, and Rohan Chand as Mowgli.
Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle will be out in select theaters on Nov. 29, before streaming on Netflix on Dec. 7.
