The ‘Mowgli’ trailer gives us a major Visual Effects Oscar contender

The first trailer for Mowgli, the second live-action telling of The Jungle Book is here and like its 2016 predecessor it’s going to be a major contender for the Visual Effects Oscar. It is the second feature film from actor Andy Serkis, whose first film Breathe was released last year. Serkis is best known for his motion-capture work in the Lord of the Rings series (as Gollum) and the new Planet of the Apes trilogy (as Cesar).

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.

Oscar winner Christian Bale (The Fighter, the Dark Knight trilogy) as the cunning panther, Bagheera; Oscar winner Cate Blanchett (Blue Jasmine, The Aviator) as the sinister snake, Kaa; Oscar nominee Benedict Cumberbatch (The Imitation Game, Avengers: Infinity War) as the fearsome tiger, Shere Khan; Oscar nominee Naomie Harris (Moonlight, Skyfall) as Nisha, the female wolf, who adopts the baby Mowgli as one of her cubs; and Andy Serkis (the Planet of the Apes trilogy, Star Wars: The Last Jedi) as the wise bear, Baloo.

On the human side, Matthew Rhys (TV’s The Americans) is Lockwood; Freida Pinto (Slumdog Millionaire) is Messua; and young actor Rohan Chand (The Hundred-Foot Journey, Bad Words) will play Mowgli, the boy raised by wolves. Rounding out the cast are Peter Mullan (Tommy’s Honour), as the leader of the wolf pack, Akela; Jack Reynor (Transformers: Age of Extinction), as Mowgli’s brother Wolf; Eddie Marsan (TV’s Ray Donovan), as Nisha’s mate, Vihaan; and Tom Hollander (Breathe) as the scavenging hyena, Tabaqui.

Mowgli is produced by Steve Kloves (Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them), Jonathan Cavendish (Breathe, performance capture producer on Godzilla), and David Barron (the Harry Potter films), with Nikki Penny serving as executive producer. The screenplay is by Kloves’ daughter, Callie Kloves.

Warner Bros will release Mowgli on October 19th. Here is the first trailer plus a behind the scenes extra with Andy Serkis.