WB Is In The "Disney" Business: Ron Howard Might Direct THE JUNGLE BOOK

In an Exclusive from The Hollwood Reporter it appears Ron Howard, who recently released 2013's excellent racing film about the rivalry between James Hunt and Nikki Lauda, RUSH, is in talks to direct The Jungle Book just a month after it's previous director bowed out due to scheduling conflicts.

Set in the jungles of India, the story centers on Mowgli, an orphaned boy raised by wolves who befriends Baloo the bear and Bagheera the black panther as he spars with the ferocious tiger Shere Khan.

With Howard in place, Warner Bros. is able to keep pace with Disney, which has its own live-action adaptation in the works with Jon Favreau at the helm. Disney also made the 1967 animated classic The Jungle Book. But because the Kipling story is in the public domain, both studios are free to pursue.

With PAN, WB's darker and more "realistic" pirate-themed approach to the Peter Pan story prepping for release in 2015 with Garrett Hedlund and Hugh Jackman at WB as well as TARZAN prepping for a 2016 release with Alexander Skarsgard and Margot Robbie it appears Warner Brothers is really going all out as live-action "children's classics" seem to be the next potential money-mine.

Howard is currently finishing In the Heart of the Sea as well as attached to the next DaVinci Code adventure, INFERNO as well as MENA so it's unclear when Howard will shove this into his schedule.