Jon Favreau's Next Project is a CGI Remake of 'The Lion King'

We thought Jon Favreau was actively working on the sequel to his Jungle Book movie (or maybe on Magic Kingdom), but it turns out his next film will probably be a CGI remake of the 1994 Disney classic The Lion King.

Watch: New Superbowl trailer for The Jungle Book has us feeling The Bare Necessities

After the intriguing teaser trailer a few months ago, we finally have a more detailed look at Jon Favreau's live-action The Jungle Book, from the studio that brought us Pirates of the Caribbean.

Watch: Jon Favreau's 'The Jungle Book' First Trailer

The first trailer for the upcoming live action The Jungle Book (the Disney/Jon Favreau movie, not the one directed by Andy Serkis) has just dropped; and while we, at A113Animation, are not fans of this trend of remaking animation classics into live action flicks, this particular project looks intriguing. Watch the trailer below.

The Jungle Book: Diamond Edition Trailer

Is is available now in the UK, but US (and some other territories) consumers will have to wait until February to own Disney's 1967 classic on Blu-ray. The Jungle Book was the last film Walt Disney was personally involved in before his death and it remains one of the company's most enduring classics. This new "Diamond Edition" will have HD picture, lossless sound and both new and old bonus features. Exact technical details are yet to be announced but, based on the UK edition, this is what you can expect in terms of bonus material:

This Week on A113Animation (8th - 14th July, 2013)

This was a pretty mammoth week for animation news. Disney managed to both enrage and delight us, with some irritating release dates and remake news vs. exciting trailers and intriguing plot details; there were a few magnificent trailers, some intense posters, a crackpot theory and more! We've also got your latest Disney Retrospective and Futurama, A Swan Song columns, and a review of Pixar's Monsters University! Check out links to the past seven days of A113Animation shakings and happenings below.

Disney Planning Live-Action Jungle Book?

Just like the Kenneth Branagh-directed live-action Cinderella and the Angelina Jolie-starring Maleficent (and Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland before that), it looks like another beloved Disney animated classic is getting the live action treatment: a live action version another live action version of Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book is apparently in the works.

The Little Mermaid to Hit UK Blu-ray Players Two Months Before US; Jungle Book Arrives in September

US cover art for the Blu-ray Diamond Edition Double Play;
no UK cover art as of yet.

Anyone out there outside of America knows the pain of Disney irritating staggered release dates. Disney's 28th animated feature, The Little Mermaid, is scheduled in the US for a 1st October release, and I'd long been under the assumption that Britons and Europeans wouldn't get a sniff of the now HD classic until at least early 2014. I'm happy to be proven wrong.

Munir's Disney Retrospective -- Animated Classic #19: The Jungle Book (1967)

Last Week's: Munir's Disney Retrospective -- Animated Classic #18: The Sword in the Stone (1963)

Walt Disney didn't live to see The Jungle Book in theatres, but his touch on the film is undeniable. Dissatisfied with the studio's two previous efforts, Walt turned his full attention to this film - something he hadn't done since the 50s - and turned the initially dark story into a lively and colourful tale. Instead of being faithful to the grim Rudyard Kipling novel, Walt and his team just took some basic characters and altered the storyline into something more fun-filled, with memorable characters and catchy music. While the plot may be light, we aren't so much interested in the ultimate goal as on the journey that the characters take - and what a fun journey it is! The Jungle Book was Walt's swan song and it's a testament to his vision as a storyteller and filmmaker that it remains one of the studio's most treasured classics. Rating: 5/5.

Next Week: Animated Classic #20: The Aristocats (1970)

Munir's Disney Retrospective -- Silver Age (Part 2) Introduction

Silver Age (1950-1977)
The 60s

Overview

After a very productive decade, Walt entered the 60s as a very established personality. Disneyland was fully operational and plans for Walt Disney World had started, he was a TV personality, and the five films released in the 50s were mostly well-regarded and turned out profits (except for Sleeping Beauty which was the most expensive film Walt ever made). But because Sleeping Beauty failed to recoup its monumental budget, the studio was in financial trouble yet again and, in order to keep it afloat, the animation department developed a new technique called Xerography were the animation sheets were processed and coloured automatically without the aid of the ink & paint department. While this technique made the animator's work more visible, this also meant that the ink & paint department closed, laying off many people and concluding a beautiful animation era. Nonetheless, the three films that were released in this decade are full of charm and at least two of them are regarded as classics nowadays. These three films were the last ones that had Walt’s touch before his unfortunate death in 1966.

Tomorrow: Animated Classic #17 Review: One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961)

Disney Turns 88

88 years yesterday, on October 16, 1923, The Walt Disney Company was founded.

Starting off as the pipe-dream of brothers, Roy Disney and the eponymous, Walt Disney, as Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio, this was the studio destined to become the world's largest media conglomerate, changing the world forever, in terms of films, TV and in terms of all of the millions of lives it has touched.

From the Golden Age of its animated films way back when, with films like Snow White, Pinocchio and Dumbo, through the Silver Age of films like 101 Dalmatians, The Jungle Book and more, and to the Renaissance of such modern classics as Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King and beyond to modern day; Disney has long been the gold standard of animation. Although accused of a dip in quality in more recent years (although currently undergoing a revival), Disney is, in essence, the company that made animation an art form.

From the debut of "Disney's folly" and Walt and his company proving to all comers that animation was, and is, a sustainable medium that can inflame the imagination and inspire the world, moving us all to laughter and tears, to today, there is rarely a person on the face of the world who hasn't heard of Disney and its famed mouse.

I'll try to keep this brief, as there is oh so much I could say about Disney, its influence on the world and on its influence on me, and more - particularly, of how, without it, it is questionable that Pixar would be the giant it is today.

Disney, in one word, means magic. At its best, nothing can touch Disney, the classics are unparalleled and without rival. Magic is imbued into every frame of so many Disney films, although Disney has rolled out several not so brilliant films, the fact that this is the company that brought us Bambi, Cinderella and The Little Mermaid more than makes up for that.

Simply put, I love Disney and I'd like to take this opportunity to say: thank you Disney. Thank you for the films, thank you for the music, thank you for the magic, thank you for the memories and thank you, most of all, for making my childhood as wonderful as it was.

Long live Disney!

Are We in The Third Golden Age?

Disney. The word that embodies animation. When you think animation you think Disney and vice versa. Yet, Disney hardly has the best track record when it comes to animated films, sure when you think of Disney animated films, you'll think of the classics; The Lion King, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, The Jungle Book, Dumbo, Beauty and the Beast etc..., but since the end of the second Golden Age (or Renaissance) Disney has been a bit down in the dumps. Particularly in the majority of the 2000s we've had a lot of flunks (in terms of critical consensus and box office revenue), with Chicken Little, Brother Bear, Home on the Range and Atlantis (among others) with some exceptions i.e. Lilo and Stitch.

Through all of the turbulence, there's been so much speculation about when - if ever - the third Golden Age of Disney will begin.