The Jungle Book (2016 film) success, grossing over $966 million, making it the fifth-highest-grossing film of 2016 and the 40th-highest-grossing film of all time, and was praised for its visual effects, musical score, direction, faithfulness to the original animated film, and vocal performances, particularly those of Murray, Kingsley, and Elba. At the 89th Academy Awards, the film won the award for Best Visual Effects. Mowgli is a "man cub" raised by the wolf Raksha and her pack, led by Akela, in an Indian jungle ever since he was brought to them as a baby by the black panther Bagheera. Bagheera trains Mowgli to learn the
The Jungle Book (2016 film) use of a shadowy jungle figure in "Apocalypse Now" (1979). The cast was announced between March and August 2014, with Idris Elba being announced to voice Shere Khan during early stages and Bill Murray eventually confirmed as the voice of Baloo in August 2014. Between then, Scarlett Johansson, Ben Kingsley, and Christopher Walken were confirmed to play Kaa, Bagheera, and King Louie. Favreau decided to cast Johansson to play Kaa, originally a male character, as he felt the original film was "a little too male-oriented." Favreau and Marks noticed the lack of female characters in the 1967 film version and