Andy Serkis' MOWGLI Gets its First Trailer

Details: By Frank Wilkins; 21 May 2018

Mowgli - New Movie Trailer

“I bit and I scratched, and I spent my entire life fighting."

Synopsis: The story follows the upbringing of the human child Mowgli, raised by a wolf pack in the jungles of India. As he learns the often harsh rules of the jungle, under the tutelage of a bear named Baloo and a panther named Bagheera, Mowgli becomes accepted by the animals of the jungle as one of their own. All but one: the fearsome tiger Shere Khan. But there may be greater dangers lurking in the jungle, as Mowgli comes face to face with his human origins.

Release Date: October 19, 2018

Director: Andy Serkis

Writer: Callie Kloves

Cast: Benedict Cumberbatch, Cate Blanchett, Andy Serkis

Warner Bros. just released the trailer for Mowgli, its new, big-screen, 3D adaptation of Rudyard Kipling’s classic The Jungle Book. The film is a motion capture CGI and live action hybrid which looks a lot like 2016's animated The Jungle Book, only this time around basically everything is real except the talking animals.

Of course, the big story here is that the film represents the sophomore directorial effort and first turn behind the camera in a major film for Andy Serkis who has carved out his niche in Hollywood as the actor behind many of the industry's biggest performance capture roles such as Gollum in The Lord of the Rings film trilogy, Kong in King Kong, and Caesar in The Planet of the Apes films. Serkis served as second unit director for the Hobbit films and had his directorial debut in 2017 with the independent film, Breathe.

The film tells the origin story of the young boy named Mowgli who was raised by a pack of wolves before eventually being befriended by a friendly bear named Baloo and a wise black panther name Bagheera.

In addition to his directorial duties, Serkis also captures the essence of Baloo the paw-paw-loving bear of whom we get a few glimpses in the trailers later frames.

In addition to the trailer, Warner also rolled out the poster for the film which features the young Indian man-cub standing with many of the story's animal characters in the background behind him. You can see the poster below.

The film will hit theaters this fall on October 19 and features an impressive roster of stars under the direction of Andy Serkis. The star-studded cast includes Christian Bale, Cate Blanchett, Benedict Cumberbatch, Naomie Harris, Andy Serkis, Matthew Rhys, Frieda Pinto, and Ronan Chand as the titular Mowgli.