INQUISITR.COM / Entertainment

Bill Murray as Baloo? The Live-Action ‘Jungle Book’ Will Be a Hit – Here’s Why!

By Jonathan Franks
Published on: 06:00 PST, Aug 2, 2014

Bill Murray has agreed to voice the iconic character of Baloo in Disney’s highly-anticipated live adaptation of The Jungle Book.

Disney officially announced the new addition to its growing ensemble cast earlier this week.

Over the years, Bill Murray has been able to build a very impressive resume of memorable roles in such films as Lost in Translation, Stripes, Groundhog Day, Ghostbusters and Scrooged. More recently, he has been featured in quite a few critically-acclaimed movies as well — such as The Monuments Men and The Grand Budapest Hotel.

The Jungle Book will not be the first time that he has voiced such an iconic and internationally known character. Many fans of Bill Murray might remember that he also provided the voice for Garfield in the 2004 film, Garfield: The Movie, as well as the 2006 sequel, Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties.

Over the years, there have been numerous actors (and even an actress) that have provided the voice for Baloo as an animated character, including:

  • Phil Harris – The Jungle Book (1967)
  • Ed Gilbert – Tale Spin (1990)
  • Pamela Adlon – Jungle Cubs (1996)
  • John Goodman – The Jungle Book 2 (2003)

However, Bill Murray will be making history by voicing this iconic character in a Jungle Book adaptation that combines live-action with animation.

Bill Murray will be in good company, especially with the amazing A-list actors and actresses that have already signed up and been confirmed before him.

Oscar winners Christopher Walken, Ben Kingsley, and Lupita Nyong’o were brought onboard to voice the characters of King Louie, Bagheera and Raksha respectively. Scarlett Johansson (The Avengers), Idris Elba (Thor 2: The Dark World), and Giancarlo Esposito (Breaking Bad) will provide the voices for Kaa, Shere Khan, and Akela the wolf.

The world will also get a chance to meet a new child actor and potential star, Neel Sethi, as he leads the cast as Mowgli.

Hopefully, this Jungle Book adaptation will not only be critically-acclaimed but also a commercial success and box office hit. That was definitely not the case at all with the follow-up Garfield sequel, which was considered a huge flop. When asked about what happened to that sequel that made it such a bad film, Murray stated:

“They sort of shot themselves in the foot, the kidneys, the liver and the pancreas on the second one.”

Chances are that many people will completely forget about that as soon as they see Bill Murray speaking through the bear who enjoys those “bare necessities” when The Jungle Book is released in theaters next year.

The response to the news of Bill Murray being added to the cast of The Jungle Book has pleased thousands of fans around the world — something that is made apparently clear when you look at the reactions found on Twitter:

This Jon Favreau-directed film written by Justin Marks is scheduled to be released in standard theaters and 3D on October 9, 2015.

Share this article: Bill Murray as Baloo? The Live-Action ‘Jungle Book’ Will Be a Hit – Here’s Why!
disney christopher walken bill murray Jon Favreau
More from Inquisitr