The Jungle Book director Jon Favreau has been involved in a project involving Disney's Magic Kingdom for quite a few years now. However, production for the film, which tells the story of one of Disney's theme parks coming to life, still hasn't seen the light of day. Favreau has instead been occupied with other films like Cowboys & Aliens, Chef, and most recently, The Jungle Book.
Well, hope is not lost for Disney fans hoping for a Magic Kingdom film. During this past weekend's press day for The Jungle Book, the 49-year-old director himself confirmed that he's still attached to Magic Kingdom.
In an interview with Collider, Favreau says that he's very passionate about the project:
Well hopefully now with this collaboration if it works out well we can explore what Magic Kingdom could be. Magic Kingdomis a story I've been developing.Michael Chabon wrote the draft about Disneyland coming to life, and all of the different lands and attractions all overlapping one another and creating a big adventure that a family gets caught up in. It's something I feel very passionate about.
Part of the reason I explored this technology I used on Jungle Book is because I was considering it for that film, and maybe it might be something we work together on.
Meanwhile, in an interview with Cinema Blend, Favreau said the hold-up is simply because Disney Pictures is scheduled to release a ton of huge movies in the next few years.
Favreau exclaimed:
Yeah, I would love to do that. We have scripts for it. We've planned, we've done illustrations. The question really becomes about Disney, with the way that they're working out their catalog of material.
He added that Disney's major movie releases prior to Magic Kingdom will have an overall influence on the film, particularly the tech and animation aspects of it.
They've really been doing a wonderful job, if you look at Maleficentand Alice [in Wonderland] and Cinderella, and now [The Jungle Book], of exploring how to expand upon the legacy of those animated films. And so I think seeing how it all fits together is going to inform a film like Magic Kingdom, where it's the park coming to life and it overlaps a lot of these. And I don't want it to… it's not necessarily going to inform the underlying Disney universe.
So I think there are a lot of things that have to be worked out. But I loved working on Jungle Book, I loved working with this tech, and with Disney. So hopefully we'll find a way to work together some more.
Right now, it remains uncertain as to when exactly Magic Kingdom will be released. From the looks of it, with Disney about to release a lot of titles from Marvel Studios, Pixar, and Lucasfilm, the tale of Magic Kingdom might not be told in theaters for quite a while. At least we know the project is still on.
In the meantime, you can watch Favreau's work on The Jungle Book when it releases on April 15.
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