Celebrate 55 Years of Disney’s ‘The Jungle Book’ with these 7 Facts
On October 18th, 1967, The Jungle Book hit the big screens! With a 4 million dollar budget – it smashed records at the box office with $378 million! An incredible achievement, the film became an instant classic. Though Walt was always an influence in animated feature films, you can thank story writer Bill Pete for suggesting the tale and pushing the studio to do more with animal characters! It has been over 55 years since The Jungle Book hit theaters and it is still beloved by all ages.
Related – 10 Fun Facts About Pinocchio You Might Not Know!
Are you a huge fan of the film? Check out the facts below!
- The End of an Era
- For Disney Trivia fans: The Jungle Book was the last film that Walt Disney worked on before he passed in December of 1966. Under a year later, The Jungle book was released – and it was also the first feature film to be released after his death. If you’ve always felt that film was something special, that may have been it.
- Borrowed Dances
- For those that may not know, Disney was known for a technique called ‘rotoscoping’ which is when animators trace over old footage for new films. The Jungle Book used rotoscoping twice with scenes from Snow White, as well as Robin Hood!
- An Inspiration
- If you’ve taken the time to read the original The Jungle Book – you can tell that the animated feature film was more inspired than based on Rudyard Kipling’s actual tale. Bill Peet – who worked on the film’s first draft – produced something that had a dark tone, similar to the book. Walt scrapped most of Peet’s version and went with a more lighthearted tale.
- Sherman Brother Switch
- Did you know the song ‘Trust in Me’ by The Sherman Brothers was actually written for Mary Poppins?? It was originally called ‘Land of Sand’ and was intended for Mary Poppins, but when the original scene it was meant for was scrapped, it was repurposed for The Jungle Book!
- The Fab Four
- It is no mere coincidence that the vultures have a Liverpool accent! The part was actually written for the mop-topped boys but they turned down the role. “And with the Beatles, John was running the show at the time, and he said [dismissively] ‘I don’t wanna do an animated film.’ Three years later they did Yellow Submarine, so you can see how things change.”
- Oscar Nominee
- Though the song didn’t win the beloved Academy Award – ‘The Bare Necessities’ was nominated for an Oscar. Unfortunately, it lost to the song “Talk to the Animals” from the movie ‘Doctor Dolittle’
- A Change in Kaa-racter
- Though the films version of Kaa is rather… a bad guy. The book’s character has quite the character change! Kaa is actually a good guy who assists Mowgli in his escape from the monkeys and apes!
Did we miss one of your favorite facts? Let us know in the comments below!
Image: Disney / Walt Disney Studios
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