Media Industries: The Jungle Book

The Jungle Book (2016)

PG | 1h 46min | Adventure , Drama , Family | 15 April 2016 (USA)

After a threat from the tiger Shere Khan forces him to flee the jungle, a man-cub named Mowgli embarks on a journey of self discovery with the help of panther Bagheera and free-spirited bear Baloo.

Director:

Jon Favreau

Writers:

 Justin Marks (screenplay by), Rudyard Kipling (based on the books by)

Box Office

Budget:

$175,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

 $103,261,464, 17 April 2016, Wide Release

Gross USA:

 $364,001,123

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

 $966,550,600

Production Companies

Fairview Entertainment

Moving Picture Company (MPC)

Prime Focus

Walt Disney Pictures (presents) (as Disney)

•It was partly based on Disney’s original version but also drew more on Kipling’s

original books, giving a rather darker tone

•The Jungle Book exists in a strange limbo-world between live action and animation.

All the animals and landscapes, etc., were computer generated, (mostly) by the British digital effects house MPC. 

•provides an excellent explanation of how the characters and landscapes were brought to

life… key elements include

–Analysis of the gait and movement of live animals

–Skeletal mapping

–Fur movement simulation

–Landscape mapping

–Creating a visual library archive of objects to fill the landscapes

•Technologies impacting on the film include:

Blue screen

Facial mapping

MPC – simulation packages for fur movement

Pre visualisation techniques

JB16 one of the most technologically advanced movies ever made’; as the director noted, ‘I

found myself wrestling with the same things as Walt, who used cutting edge technology for

his day, but with a different set of tools and technologies.

JB16 is the result of cutting edge CGI – the animals

were created digitally post-production and the one 

actor in the film (playing Mowgli) acted against a blue

screen.

Scenes for The Jungle Book were first filmed using

motion capture. ‘We motion-captured the entire movie

before we filmed anything and we cut the whole film

together,’ says Favreau.

Using that footage, the effects team then built the 

film’s sets virtually, a process known as

previsualisation (previz). ‘Everything was mapped

against the virtual sets. We designed the sets like you

would for a video game.’

The CGI was mostly created by MPC.

The VFX won both the BAFTA and Academy Award. The

new film opens and closes using analogue techniques, however, referencing the original 

film. The film received an Oscar for their use of VFX

Ownership, Distribution and Economics:
Ownership
•JB16 was planned by Walt Disney Studios Chairman, Alan Horn, as one of a series of
remakes of their classic properties: ‘Hollywood makes lots of films for kids, but
•Disney reboots are considered safe bets. They revive classic characters for a new
generation of kids, and their parents may be especially willing to shell out for related
merchandise.’
•Disney have leveraged the technology within the film to widen audience appeal and create
spectacle during the marketing e.g. showing film teasers in 3D

Production:  The making of the film; pre-production and funding; shoot (format); post-production (SFX).

Distribution: The way the film gets to screens; distribution company.

Marketing: The process of raising awareness; targeting an audience; creating publicity through various methods

A distributor is responsible for marketing a film

Exhibition: The way we view; getting the film to a paying audience.

Conglomerates: a company which owns subsidiary companies

Animation 1967:

•The Jungle Book (hereafter JB) was released in 1967 by Walt Disney Productions. It was

created at the Walt Disney Studios

•in California. Disney’s animation studio had been responsible for developing many of the

techniques and ways of working that became standard practices of traditional cel animation,

•Pioneered the use of the multiplane camera to create an early 3-D like effect.

Multiplane camera- used to create an early 3-D like effect

•The multiplane camera was a special camera that helped record

the movement of multiple

layers of art work that would move past the camera at various

speeds and distances. 

•The first vertical multiplane camera was invented in 1933 by Ub

Iwerks, former Walt Disney Studios animator and director.

Disney used this approach to create a 3D like effect in several

Jungle Book sequences

Animation 2016:

•The Jungle Book (2016), hereafter JB16, was produced by Walt Disney Pictures, directed

and co-produced by Jon Favreau.

• It was partly based on Disney’s original version but also drew more on Kipling’s original

books, giving a rather darker tone.

•‘The Jungle Book exists in a strange limbo-world between live action and animation.

Favreau admits he has no idea which category it falls into: ‘I think it’s considered live action

because people feel like they’re watching a live action film,’

•All the animals and landscapes etc. were created on computers, mostly by the British

digital effects house MPC.

•The animal characters were deliberately created with a realistic look, and not in a cute and

cuddly cartoon-style as with the original animated Jungle Book film

Favreau drive to create a more believable  live action film dictated hw the animals

looked/behaved.

‘In Jungle Book, if  we just took everything that was in the ’67 film, that humour would have 

been too broad for a live action, and also you have to take into account that these look like

real animals,so the intensity of it gets really notched up.’ 

They use:

Blue Screen technology- didn't use green screen as it would've clashed with the green

leaves and trees

Motion Capture- People have dots stuck to them while they move around so that it's

easier to animate them

Previsualisation- Previs: The visualization (now especially through the use of computers)

of how something will look when created or finished. Ultimately, previs is the process of

imagining and planning a final product.

Distribution 2016:

Produced by Walt Disney Company

MPC – independent UK company contracted to do the the complex 3

animation effects

Distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures.

in the UK by companies such as

If Disney controls all of these then they get more profit.

Exhibition in the UK by companies such as Cineworld & Odeon.

Disney controls all these in order to make more profit for their 

own company.

Circulation: the total number of copies of a magazine, newspaper, newsletter, film, etc.

Relevance to the Jungle-Book: Disney sell their films in digital format to exhibitors, they can

also sell the film in the form of Blu Ray and DVD sales.

A key driver for Disney on the remake of the Jungle book was to engage with a new

generation of audience using VFX.

The Disney organisation needed to create new content which could be made available for

streaming  as well as the traditional channels of Video (DVD+Blu Ray and viewing on large

screens – i-Max)

Theatrical Performance

•Worldwide Box Office: $963,819,542 

•Est. Domestic DVD Sales: $19,551,912

•Est. Domestic Blu-ray Sales: $26,458,992

•Total Est. Domestic Video Sales: $46,010,904 

Horizontal integration:  With four different production companies the Disney Corporation is

able to expand its market

•Vertical integration: Walt Disney plans, produces, advertises, and distributes all of

its products

Disney will produce, distribute its own films and can increase profits through offering

products via its stores and theme parks.

•This can be beneficial in maintaining high profitability (e.g. advertising costs are high,

but the company can advertise within its media channels ABC and ESPN to reduce

costs)

•Media synergy example 2: Lion King film series. Became a Broadway play, the

soundtrack for the play and the first film was available but they both also had shirts,

cups, and other souvenirs.