Bill Murray Joins Jon Favreau's "Jungle Book"

It has been announced that Bill Murray has signed on to voice Baloo the bear in Disney's new live-action film adaptation of author Rudyard Kipling's classic India-set 1894 short story collection called The Jungle Book.

The majority of the tales focus on Mowgli (Neel Sethi), a young boy raised by wolves whose friends include a bear named Baloo and a panther by the name of Bagheera (Ben Kingsley). They also encounter a tiger adversary named Shere Khan (Idris Elba will both mo-cap perform and provide the voice).

Murray has done this kinda work before voicing Garfield the cat for two live action CGI/live action hybrid films.  In the Jungle Book Baloo and the panther Bagheera teach the law of the jungle to the boy Mowgli — and save him from Shere Khan the tiger. In the1967 animated film the character popularized “The Bare Necessities,” sung by  Phil Harris.

Oscar winner Christopher Walken is set to voice King Louie, the leader of the jungle’s monkeys Louie sung the song I want to be like you in the 1967 animated film. Former “Breaking Bad” villain Giancarlo Esposito, meanwhile, will be Akela, leader of the wolf pack that initially cares for Mowgli.

Lupita Nyong'o is playing Rakcha, the wolf who takes in the orphan Mogwli. Scarlett Johansson will portray the sling python Kaa.

Justin Marks will write the script for "Iron Man" director Jon Favreau.

Robert Legato ("Avatar") will oversee the motion capture elements in the film

The film is scheduled for release on October 9th 2015.

Since the property is in the public domain, Warner Bros is developing its own version with Harry Potter film series writer Steve Kloves working on the script. Filmmaker Alejandro González Iñárritu had been attached to direct, but he left over scheduling conflicts. Now motion capture actor Andy Serkis is set to direct that version. Jungle Book: Origins is set to open on October 21, 2016