The Jungle Book Opens April 15, Scarlett Johansson Stars

Disney’s The Jungle Book, the live-action reimagining of the animated classic featuring Amagansett’s Scarlett Johansson, opens this Friday, April 15. Johansson is the voice of the villainous python Kaa. The Jungle Book also stars Bill Murray, Ben Kingsley, Idris Elba, Christopher Walken, Lupita Nyong’o and Giancarlo Esposito.

Directed by Jon Favreau, The Jungle Book is the latest live-action Disney film based on an animated feature. Alice in Wonderland, starring Johnny Depp, was highly successful, as was Cinderella, which featured Cate Blanchett. Maleficent, with Angelina Jolie in the title role, was directly inspired by Sleeping Beauty. These films have all featured grand, larger-than-life worlds and updated the source material to resonate with today’s audiences.

If film review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes is any indication, Disney has another success on its hands. As of this writing, The Jungle Book sits at an astonishing 96% Fresh rating, with an extremely flattering Critical Consensus summary:

As lovely to behold as it is engrossing to watch, The Jungle Book is the rare remake that actually improves upon its predecessors — all while setting a new standard for CGI.

Johansson will next be seen in Marvel’s hugely anticipated Captain America: Civil War, where she’ll reprise her role as Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow. In what is definitely not a coincidence, Johansson made her debut as Black Widow in Iron Man 2, also directed by Favreau.

Watch a featurette with Johansson and the cast below, and see The Jungle Book in theaters everywhere on Friday.