The Jungle Book (1967 & 2016)
How does the promotional material for The Jungle Book, 1967 and 2016, reflect an evolving media industry?
For the original 1967 version of The Jungle Book, Disney thought that the script was too dark for family audiences, that the audience would not be able to identify with Mowgli's character, and that
Shere Khan would be a cliché villain; so Disney took control and changed the production team. Disney wanted something fun, light and entertaining with cheerful songs; not something dark.
The ending of the movie was not initially planned, one of the animators - Floyd Norman - said, "We knew Mowgli was going to go back to the Man Village in the third act, but we didn't know how we were going to get him back there. Why does he give up on his dream of staying in the jungle and go to the Man Village? Well, one day Walt says, 'He sees a little girl.' So naturally, all of us say 'Give me a break! He's not even 11 years old, he doesn't have any interest in girls.' And Walt said, 'Do it. It will work' And he was right. It works."
According to the Disney animator Floyd Norman, 'We never thought in terms of making The Jungle Book a box office smash. Today everyone thinks about the opening weekend box number. We just wanted to finish the movie. We were just thinking about making Walt happy. If the picture was a flop and Walt was happy, then we were happy. Walt knew that if he had a good picture, it would eventually earn its money. He just moved forward.'
The budget was $4 million, but The Jungle Book had made $141 million gross in the US, and $205 million worldwide. An estimated $6.8 million came from Germany by itself, making it Germany's highest grossing film of all time, and the most successful movie of all time in terms of ticket admissions in the country, with 27.3 million tickets sold.
The movie is only 78 minutes long which may be surprising to a modern audience, as films now are usually almost over two hours. This may be partly due to production costs and cinema running availability, as the film would have only been shown in the cinemas at first as people didn't have television yet, so producing VCRs and DVDs was pointless.
In terms of marketing, JB did not include much other than movie posters and cinema signs due to the lack of internet and social media. There was also not much competition, especially in the animation industry, so the film was very popular for the whole family to watch.
Disney was extremely cognizant of how to create and maintain audiences worldwide, "Walt Disney also developed the idea of synergy between media consumption and theme park visits in the 1950s."
Nowadays, JB has been released by Disney as digital downloads via Amazon Video, Google Play, ITunes, etc.
Disney then decided to make a live action remake in 2016. It was directed by Jon Favreau who is ultimately known for producing the Iron Man films. It comprised a child actor to play Mowgli and included voice actors and lots of green screens to create realistic animals and jungle settings.
On the opening weekend it made over $100 million in USA and overall grossed $364,001,123 in USA and $947,589,026 worldwide. It is difficult to identify which film was more successful due to the difference in media in time, as it wasn't as easy to gain access to the original in '67, although it is easier now.
For the 2016 version, marketing was so much easier than the original because of sites such as YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, etc. which promoted the film and helped spread the word around the world. Disney even held an event for fans that let them meet the cast and see some teaser trailers, which would hopefully excite the fans. The Disney parks got involved too, in the marketing of the film.
Obviously, the 2016 remake would be of much higher quality than the original, and the features were much more advanced as they used CGI and special effects to make it seem much more real for the viewers. Disney wished to create a sense of nostalgia in the remake.
For the original 1967 version of The Jungle Book, Disney thought that the script was too dark for family audiences, that the audience would not be able to identify with Mowgli's character, and that
Shere Khan would be a cliché villain; so Disney took control and changed the production team. Disney wanted something fun, light and entertaining with cheerful songs; not something dark.
The ending of the movie was not initially planned, one of the animators - Floyd Norman - said, "We knew Mowgli was going to go back to the Man Village in the third act, but we didn't know how we were going to get him back there. Why does he give up on his dream of staying in the jungle and go to the Man Village? Well, one day Walt says, 'He sees a little girl.' So naturally, all of us say 'Give me a break! He's not even 11 years old, he doesn't have any interest in girls.' And Walt said, 'Do it. It will work' And he was right. It works."
According to the Disney animator Floyd Norman, 'We never thought in terms of making The Jungle Book a box office smash. Today everyone thinks about the opening weekend box number. We just wanted to finish the movie. We were just thinking about making Walt happy. If the picture was a flop and Walt was happy, then we were happy. Walt knew that if he had a good picture, it would eventually earn its money. He just moved forward.'
The budget was $4 million, but The Jungle Book had made $141 million gross in the US, and $205 million worldwide. An estimated $6.8 million came from Germany by itself, making it Germany's highest grossing film of all time, and the most successful movie of all time in terms of ticket admissions in the country, with 27.3 million tickets sold.
The movie is only 78 minutes long which may be surprising to a modern audience, as films now are usually almost over two hours. This may be partly due to production costs and cinema running availability, as the film would have only been shown in the cinemas at first as people didn't have television yet, so producing VCRs and DVDs was pointless.
In terms of marketing, JB did not include much other than movie posters and cinema signs due to the lack of internet and social media. There was also not much competition, especially in the animation industry, so the film was very popular for the whole family to watch.
Disney was extremely cognizant of how to create and maintain audiences worldwide, "Walt Disney also developed the idea of synergy between media consumption and theme park visits in the 1950s."
Nowadays, JB has been released by Disney as digital downloads via Amazon Video, Google Play, ITunes, etc.
2016
Disney then decided to make a live action remake in 2016. It was directed by Jon Favreau who is ultimately known for producing the Iron Man films. It comprised a child actor to play Mowgli and included voice actors and lots of green screens to create realistic animals and jungle settings.
On the opening weekend it made over $100 million in USA and overall grossed $364,001,123 in USA and $947,589,026 worldwide. It is difficult to identify which film was more successful due to the difference in media in time, as it wasn't as easy to gain access to the original in '67, although it is easier now.
For the 2016 version, marketing was so much easier than the original because of sites such as YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, etc. which promoted the film and helped spread the word around the world. Disney even held an event for fans that let them meet the cast and see some teaser trailers, which would hopefully excite the fans. The Disney parks got involved too, in the marketing of the film.
Obviously, the 2016 remake would be of much higher quality than the original, and the features were much more advanced as they used CGI and special effects to make it seem much more real for the viewers. Disney wished to create a sense of nostalgia in the remake.
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