I love fun facts, Disney, and movies, and I love when those three things all come together. It’s so interesting to me how films come about and the work that goes into creating them. Here are some fun facts about The Jungle Book, which is now out in theaters nationwide!
* A team of more than 800 computer graphics artists spent more than a year animating more than 70 species, crafting 100 million leaves and simulating earth, fire and water.
* The virtual environment makes up 80 percent of the film frame 100 percent of the time. Artists digitally built most of the jungle environment that appears in the film, creating moss, bark, rock, water, grass, trees, leaves that were all inspired by India.
* Mother wolf Raksha is appropriately named because in Hindi, “Raksha” means “protector.”
* If you thought costume designer Laura Jean Shannon had it easy with Mowgli wearing a loin cloth, think again. He had 17 different loin cloths.
“Mowgli’s immersed in water and mud, he gets rained on, he runs,” says Shannon. “We even rigged a hidden safety harness into the costume because Mowgli hangs on tree limbs and cliffs. Each of the loincloths . . . had a very specific purpose.”
* Baloo (one of my favorites) can reach nearly 15 feet high. He is so heavy and has so very much fur that the free-spirited bear took nearly five hours per frame to render. King Louie stands nearly 12 feet high.
* Disney’s 1967 animated film, “The Jungle Book,” was the last film that Walt Disney oversaw. He passed away in 1966, the year before the film’s release. “Walt Disney’s work has influenced my work. He was considered high tech for the time,” says Director Jon Favreau. “He was the first person who locked soundtrack with picture, so the characters were perfectly choreographed to the musical score—something that absolutely blew people’s minds. Disney was on the cutting edge of technology.”
* Does the song “The Bare Necessities” pop into anyone else’s head when talking about The Jungle Book? The iconic song was written by Terry Gilkyson and nominated for an Academy Award® in 1968.
* Composer John Debney, who wrote the score for the new, live-action film “The Jungle Book,” is the son of Louis Debney, who worked for Walt Disney. “When I was a youngster, they were making this incredible magical film called ‘The Jungle Book,’ and I was sort of a studio brat,” says Debney, who says his family traveled with the family of Bruce Reitherman, who played Mowgli in the original film.
* The voices in the film include Bill Murray (“Baloo”), Sir Ben Kingsley (“Bagheera”), Lupita Nyong’o (“Raksha”), Scarlett Johansson (“Kaa”), Idris Elba (“Shere Khan”), Christopher Walken (“King Louie”), Giancarlo Esposito (“Akela”). Neel Sethi plays Mowgli, the only live action character in the film! Here’s a cool video highlighting each of them:
If you’re looking for a review of the film, check out this one by Becca of My Crazy Good Life.
You May Also Like: Free printable The Jungle Book activity sheets OR Fun facts about Zootopia
Prior Post: 6 things to know before you go to Cabana Bay Beach Resort at Universal Studios
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