The Jungle Book is a 1967 American animated musical adventure film produced by Walt Disney Productions and released by Buena Vista Distribution. Based on the "Mowgli" stories from Rudyard Kipling's 1894 book of the same name, it is the final animated feature film to be produced by Walt Disney, who died during its production. It was directed by Wolfgang Reitherman and written by Larry Clemmons, Ralph Wright, Ken Anderson, and Vance Gerry. Featuring the voices of Phil Harris, Sebastian Cabot, Louis Prima, George Sanders, and Sterling Holloway, the film's plot follows Mowgli, a feral child raised in the Indian jungle by wolves, as his friends, Bagheera the panther and Baloo the bear, try to convince him to leave the jungle before the ruthless tiger Shere Khan arrives.
The early versions of both the screenplay and the soundtrack followed Kipling's work more closely, with a dramatic, dark, and sinister tone, which Disney did not want in his family film, leading to writer Bill Peet and songwriter Terry Gilkyson being replaced.
The Jungle Book was released on October 18, 1967, to positive reviews, with acclaim for its soundtrack, featuring five songs by the Sherman Brothers and one by Gilkyson, "The Bare Necessities". With a gross of $23.8 million worldwide, the film initially became Disney's second-highest-grossing animated film in the United States and Canada, the ninth-highest-grossing film of 1967, and was also successful during its re-releases. The film was also successful throughout the world, becoming Germany's highest-grossing film by number of admissions. It also held the record as the highest-selling animated film based on ticket sales until that record was overtaken by Ne Zha 2 in 2025. Disney released a live-action adaptation in 1994 and an animated sequel in 2003; a second live-action remake directed by Jon Favreau was released in 2016, with a sequel to that film in development.
Plot In the jungles of India, Bagheera the wise black panther discovers an orphaned baby boy and brings him to a pack of wolves, who name him Mowgli. Ten years later, the pack learns that the murderous Bengal tiger Shere Khan has returned to their area of the jungle. Knowing that he hates humans and will stop at nothing to kill Mowgli, the pack decides that the latter must leave; Bagheera agrees to escort Mowgli to a nearby "Man-Village", though Mowgli is reluctant to leave the only home he has ever known, as he does not fear Shere Khan, and believes he can last against him (not to mention that he has never met others of his own kind, thus everyone in the Man-Village will seem like strangers to him).
Bagheera and Mowgli rest in a tree where an Indian python named Kaa attempts to devour Mowgli by hypnotizing him, but is stopped by Bagheera. The next morning, Mowgli encounters Colonel Hathi and his elephant herd. Following an argument where Mowgli refuses to go to the Man-Village, he is abandoned by Bagheera. All alone, Mowgli meets and befriends Baloo, a laid-back and carefree sloth bear who promises Mowgli can stay in the jungle with him. Mowgli is soon kidnapped by monkeys and Hoolock gibbons who bring him to their leader, King Louie, an orangutan. King Louie tries to persuade Mowgli to teach him the ways of man, until Baloo and Bagheera arrive and rescue him, destroying King Louie's temple in the process.
Whilst Mowgli is sleeping that night, Bagheera tries to convince Baloo that Mowgli must be taken to the Man-Village. Baloo remains unconvinced until Bagheera reminds him that Shere Khan will try and kill Mowgli, as he is afraid of guns and fire. This persuades Baloo, who tells Mowgli the next morning that he must take him to the Man-Village; feeling betrayed, Mowgli accuses him of breaking his promise and runs away. Bagheera later finds Colonel Hathi's herd and seeks their help in finding Mowgli. However, unbeknownst to any of them, Shere Khan has overheard this and now decides to hunt and kill Mowgli himself.
Whilst going through the jungle, Mowgli is ambushed by Kaa once more, who hypnotizes him again. However, before he can devour him, Shere Khan arrives and tells Kaa that he is looking for a "man-cub"; Kaa manages to hide Mowgli. After escaping Kaa, Mowgli reaches the wastelands of the jungle where he meets and befriends a group of vultures. However, Shere Khan soon arrives and tries to kill Mowgli. He tries to fight, but soon begins to lose his nerve after realizing how terrifying the tiger truly is, before Baloo intervenes. Whilst Shere Khan attacks and nearly kills Baloo, Mowgli ties a burning branch to Shere Khan's tail, forcing him to run away in defeat. Mowgli now mourns the loss of Baloo; as Bagheera respectfully takes Mowgli away, Baloo reveals he is alive, much to everyone's happiness.
As they get closer to the Man-Village, Mowgli meets a girl getting water from the river. He follows her into the Man-Village, having finally accepted the fact that he is a human. Content that Mowgli is where he belongs, Baloo and Bagheera return to the jungle.
Voice cast
Bruce Reitherman as Mowgli, also referred to as Man-Cub, a naive and stubborn young human boy who was raised by the Seeonee wolf pack and wants to stay in the jungle despite the threat of Shere Khan. Sebastian Cabot as Bagheera, a wise and intelligent melanistic Indian leopard who discovers Mowgli as a baby and later becomes his main protector. He also serves as the film's narrator. Phil Harris as Baloo, a lazy and carefree sloth bear who believes in the importance of letting go of worries and focusing on the simple things in life. George Sanders as Shere Khan, a confident and menacing Bengal tiger who is deeply feared by most of the animals of the jungle. Bill Lee was Shere Khan's singing voice, and Jimmy MacDonald provided his roars. Sterling Holloway as Kaa, a sly and sinister Indian python who seeks Mowgli as prey, but fails each time he attempts to eat him. J. Pat O'Malley as Colonel Hathi, a pompous Indian elephant who leads the Elephant Military. O'Malley also voiced Buzzie, the leader of the vulture quartet that Mowgli encounters during his journey. Verna Felton as Winifred, Colonel Hathi's snarky and outspoken wife and the second-in-command of the Elephant Military. Clint Howard as Hathi Jr., also known as Baby Elephant, the son of Colonel Hathi and Winifred. Louis Prima as King Louie, the cool and smooth-talking orangutan leader of the monkeys from the ruins of an ancient palace who wants to learn how to make fire. Lord Tim Hudson as Dizzy, one of the members of the vulture quartet. Chad Stuart as Flaps, one of the members of the vulture quartet. Digby Wolfe as Ziggy, one of the members of the vulture quartet. John Abbott as Akela, the leader of the Seeonee wolf pack who sends Mowgli to the Man-Village under Bagheera's guidance. Ben Wright as Rama, Mowgli's adoptive wolf father. Darleen Carr as The Girl who charms Mowgli into following her to the Man-Village at the film's ending. Leo De Lyon, Bill Skiles, Pete Henderson, and Hal Smith as King Louie's monkeys.
Production Early development Walt Disney first considered making an animated version of Rudyard Kipling's 1894 collection of stories The Jungle Book in the late 1930s. In the early 1960s, after completing his work on The Sword in the Stone, story artist Bill Peet proposed The Jungle Book as the studio's next animated feature, seeing it as a "great chance to develop some good animal characters". Disney agreed and acquired the film rights to all thirteen Jungle Book stories from the estate of Alexander Korda (who had produced the 1942 film adaptation) by April 1962, after having spent the previous ten years in negotiations. At that point, Peet had written an early story treatment and developed the initial character designs. Disney originally intended to closely follow Kipling's work, planning to make a film that would be "both naturalistic and fantastic, suggestive of the compelling stag fight in Bambi".
Peet created his treatment with little supervision, as he had done with One Hundred and One Dalmatians and The Sword in the Stone. He tried to make the story more linear, since the novel was very episodic, while preserving its ominous tone and adding more drama and suspense (in particular, Peet's story would start with wolves and Bagheera rescuing baby Mowgli from falling from a waterfall). He also decided on Mowgli's journey from the jungle back to the Man-Village as the film's central storyline. One of the few major departures from Kipling's works was the character of Baloo, whom Peet rewrote into a "big playful buffoon of a bear", with the role of Mowgli's serious-minded mentor given to Bagheera. Peet created an original character for the filmKing Louie, the leader of the Bandar-log, who would kidnap Mowgli and try to get him to teach them how to make fire and rebuild the ancient city. Louie was also to show Mowgli the treasure under the ruins (a plot point borrowed from The Second Jungle Book), which would serve as a setup for the film's climax. After Mowgli had arrived to the Man-Village, he would get into an argument with the local hunter Buldeo, which would cause Mowgli to return to the jungle with a torch and use it to scare those who attacked or mocked him through the journey and confront Shere Khan, before being dragged to the ancient city by Buldeo in search for the treasure. After taking some of the treasures, Buldeo would attempt to burn the jungle to avoid the threat of Shere Khan, only for the tiger to attack and kill him, before being killed by Mowgli with Buldeo's rifle. Because of his actions, Mowgli would be hailed as a hero in both the jungle and the village and declared the first human member of the wolves' council.
After the critical reception of The Sword in the Stone, Walt Disney decided to get more involved in the story development of The Jungle Book than he had been with the past two films. Upon reviewing the storyboards, Disney felt that Peet's approach was too dark and depressing, and held a meeting, insisting on making the story lighter and more aimed at the family demographic. Peet, who had been working on his treatment for over a year by then, refused, resulting in a long argument between him and Disney. On January 29, 1964, Peet left the studio after another fight with Disney over the preliminary recording for Bagheera's voice as well as Disney insulting him claiming that he should see Mary Poppins for "real entertainment". Peet would later admit in his autobiography that he was glad he did not insult Disney back over the film and left the studio when he did knowing Disney would die two years after he left.
Rewriting
After Peet's departure, Disney assigned Larry Clemmons as his new writer and one of the four-story men for the film, giving Clemmons a copy of Kipling's book, and telling him: "The first thing I want you to do is not to read it". Clemmons still looked at the novel and thought it was too disjointed and without continuity, needing adaptations to fit a film script. Clemmons wanted to start in medias res, with some flashbacks afterward, but then Disney said to focus on doing the storyline more straight: "Let's do the meat of the picture. Let's establish the characters. Let's have fun with it".