Now that Harry Potter is over, Warner is keen to stay in business with the team that brought the franchise to life, which includes Steve Kloves, who wrote seven of the eight screenplays for the magical movies. Now Deadline reports that the studio is backing Kloves to write and direct a live action adaptation of Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book.
Kipling’s 1894 book has been the subject of numerous adaptations, most famously Disney’s animated 1967 version, along with a 1994 live-action rendition, which starred Jason Scott Lee. The novel follows the adventures of Mowgli, who is brought up by wolves and has various interactions with jungle animals, both good and bad.
As well as Harry Potter, Kloves also had a hand in writing The Amazing Spider-Man, as well as Warner’s now-delayed Akira. It won’t be his first directorial outing, as Kloves has previously made The Fabulous Baker Boys and Flesh and Bone, but hasn’t helmed a movie since 1993.