From Sherlock Holmes to Shere Khan: Benedict Cumberbatch has joined the cast of a live-action version of The Jungle Book. Benedict, 38, will voice the villainous tiger in an upcoming Warner Bros production of the classic story, titled Jungle Book: Origins, which is being directed by Lord of the Rings star Andy Serkis.
The film will hit cinemas in
October 2016– a year and a week after
Disney releases its family-friendly version.
Jon Favreauhas signed up to direct that production, which will star Scarlett Johansson as Kaa the snake, Idris Elba as Shere Khan, Bill Murray as Baloo and Christopher Walken as King Louie. Benedict has had a busy year; he has
three filmscoming out in 2014 –
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies,
The Imitation Game, in which he stars as Alan Turing, and
Penguins of Madagascar. And in 2015, fans can look forward to
Benedict’s return as Sherlock. It has been confirmed that a
full-length special episodewill begin filming in January, with a series of three episodes to be filmed later in the year.
He might be best known for playing the beloved detective, but it’s for an entirely different role that Benedict recently made headlines. An upcoming production of
Hamletat the Barbican, starring Benedict in the titular role, became
the most in-demand theatre production of all time, according to ticket website Viagogo. Even though the curtain doesn’t go up on the show for another year, tickets for
Hamletare outselling the next most popular show, the current run of
A Streetcar Named Desire, by four to one. The show also registered
214 per cent more ticket searchesin the hours after the tickets were released than
Beyonce and Jay Z’s On the Run tour. Tickets went on sale on 11 August at 11am – and within minutes fans were tweeting their frustration at finding themselves more than
20,000 placesback in the queue.
