Ahead of a full trailer, a six-second teaser has been released by Disney for the live-action adaptation of The Jungle Book, offering a first look at Mowgli.
Played by Neel Sethi, Mowgli is a young boy raised by wolves, who grows up in the jungle and has an ability to communicate with animals. Sethi will be joined by Bill Murray as the bear Baloo, Ben Kingsley as the panther Bagheera, Idris Elba as the tiger Shere Khan, Scarlett Johansson as the python Kaa, Christopher Walken as the orangutan King Louie and Lupita Nyong'o as the mother wolf Raksha.
Anticipation has been building for the film since Jon Favreau was announced as its director at the D23 Expo earlier in August. With the release of this teaser, Disney is dissipating some of the anxiety, showing that the movie is headed in the right direction.
Though just six seconds long, the teaser perfectly captures the beauty of the jungle where Mowgli will come of age. Dark and sinister in parts, yet refreshing and lively in others, the setting offers a peek at what the The Jungle Book will look like.
The teaser also provides a glimpse of Mowgli. There wasn't much to show in just a few seconds, but those moments did capture the stark contrast of a little boy alone in the jungle.
According to Kingsley, the movie is going to be different — much more visceral than its 1967 predecessor.
"You feel the threat of the jungle, as well as the beauty of the jungle. You feel the power of those beasts as well as the story they have to tell," he said after his first look during the D23 Expo, adding that it's hard to imagine that most of the movie is made up of computer-generated images.
The Jungle Book is Disney's latest effort to adapt its popular animated films, following in the footsteps of Maleficent, Cinderella and Alice in Wonderland. A live-action Beauty and the Beast is also in production.
The Jungle Book is due to be released on April 15, 2016.
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