POV
1893
It wasn’t actually
The
JungleBook
that started
Mowgli’s tale: Kipling intro-
duced the character in
Many
Inventions
, inwhich aBritish
officer is savedby amanhe
later learnswas raised
bywolves.
22
APRIL2016
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WaltDisneyPictures’ live-actionversionof
TheJungleBook
hits
theaters thismonth, but it’s just the latest adaptationof thebeloved
story, first publishedas acollectionbyEnglishauthorRudyardKipling
more than 120years ago.Mowgli andhis friendshaveundergone
scoresof iterationsover theyears, both in theUnitedStates and
abroad.Hereare someof themost noteworthy takeson the story.
—
T
.
H
.
TheNever-EndingStory
1894
This yearmarks
TheJungleBook
’s true
beginning
. Kiplingwas born
in India and returned as a teen,
informing the creationof these
stories. Theoriginal collection
contained illustrations byhis
father, an art professor
inBombay.
1967
WaltDisney’s
TheJungle
Book
has grossedover $200
million. It was the last film
thatWaltDisneyhimself
produced.
1967
Released in
five 20-minute shorts
between 1967 and 1971,
The
USSR’s
Adventures ofMowgli
provides a stark contrast to the
U.S. version also released in
1967. This one kept true to
theprimal, grittynature
of the stories.
2003
Not evenSmash
Mouth’s renditionof “I
WannaBeLikeYou” could
save
Disney’s
TheJungleBook
2
. The sequel, released 36
years after theoriginal, was
aflopwithboth critics
and audiences.
2007
Marvel Illustrated: Jungle
Book
kept truer to the source
material than rivalDC’s
1994 version, with legendary
comic-book artistGil Kane
helping tobring 19th-
century India to life.
2008
In
TheGraveyardBook
,
NeilGaiman
recastsMowgli
asNobody “Bod”Owens, an
orphan raisedby spirits and
ghosts in agraveyard. It won
theHugoAward and the
NewberyMedal.
2015
In the
anime
movie
TheBoy and the
Beast
— this one ahit film—
Kyuta (Mowgli) andKumatetsu
(Baloo) trade songs for swords
anduse theirmartial-arts
prowess todobattlewith
anevil giant
spirit whale.
2017
JungleBook:
Origins
, set for release
inOctober 2017, is aBritish
live-action version that will
boastCateBlanchett asKaa,
ChristianBale asBagheera,
BenedictCumberbatch as
ShereKhan andAndy
Serkis asBaloo.
1942
Ledby a young
Hollywood star named
Sabu, ZoltanKorda’s
Jungle
Book
,
the story’s first film
adaptation
, earned fourOscar
nominations. (Thefilmwas
produced for $300,000 at
theheight ofWorld
War II.)
(
