Disney pushes 'The Jungle Book' release date to 2016

LOS ANGELES: Disney has pushed back the release of ' The Jungle Book' to April 2016.

Jon Favreau's live action movie, scripted by Justin Marks, had been scheduled for release on October 9 this year, reported Deadline.

However, Disney has now confirmed that the film, currently in production, will now open on April 15, 2016.

Favreau's adaptation will star newcomer Neel Sethi as Mowgli, with Ben Kingsley, Lupita Nyongo, Christopher Walken, Idris Elba, Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson among the voice cast.

The move comes just a month after Warner Bros announced that its own planned adaptation of Rudyard Kipling's story had been pushed back to October 2017.

Disney's 'The Finest Hours', based on the 2009 novel by Casey Sherman and Michael J Tougias, will now open on October 9, moving forward six months.

Meanwhile, the studio also confirmed that 'Pete's Dragon' will arrive in cinemas on August 12, 2016, with DreamWorks' remake of 'Ghost in the Shell' following on April 14, 2017.