Disney Orders Director Jon Favreau 'Jungle Book' Sequel Before Reboot's April Release Date

Disney's latest retelling of its own material, the live-action/CGI reboot of Rudyard Kipling's classic The Jungle Book, won't be released in theaters until the end of the week. Since critics seem to adore it so far, Disney's already moving forward with a sequel: director Jon Favreau and screenwriter Justin Marks could do Jungle Book 2!

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Disney has so much faith in this film that the studio's already in talks with both Favreau and Marks to have them reprise their roles behind the camera for a sequel, with the latter also scheduled to produce. Brigham Taylor, who was behind the upcoming Jungle Book and last year's Tomorrowland, will also produce the sequel, which doesn't have any dates as of yet.

Ahead of its release this week, The Jungle Book already holds an incredibly impressive stand with critics, with a 100% Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes and a 79% on Metacritic. It's got the cast to hold it, too. Though Neel Sethi, is a young newcomer, the rest of the cast boasts names like Scarlett Johansson, Bill Murray, Lupita Nyong'o, Christopher Walken and Idris Elba.

Favreau is also no stranger to big movies and sequels, since he directed the first two Iron Man movies. The Swingers filmmaker and actor was a major part of constructing what's now one of the biggest franchises in Hollywood, namely the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Interestingly enough, this isn't the only Jungle Book adaptation coming to theaters soon: Andy Serkis, the motion capture actor behind The Lord of the Rings' Gollum, is currently directing his own take on Kipling's classic for Warner Bros., set for a fall 2018 release date. His film's cast is just about as impressive as Favreau's, with the likes of Benedict Cumberbatch, Christian Bale, Cate Blanchett and Serkis himself.

Disney's Jungle Book will premiere this Friday, April 15, while Warner's version will hit theaters on October 19, 2018.