There are two movie adaptations of The Jungle Book in the works right now, but only one of them will feature the leonine voice of Sir Ben Kingsley. Kingsley will be voicing the panther Bagheera opposite Idris Elba's Shere Khan.


The Hollywood Reporter has announced that Kingsley's voice will appear in Disney's version of the film, which is being directed by Jon Favreau and will combine live action with CG animation. Kingsley is fresh off another voice-acting gig, playing Archibald Snatcher in Laika's upcoming movie The Boxtrolls.

Kingsley and Elba certainly have perfect voices for a pair of powerful cats, but we're still intrigued by the other Jungle Book project, which Andy Serkis is directing for Warner Bros. and will hopefully have some mo-cap magic to it.


Ben Kingsley Joins Disney's 'Jungle Book' [THR]