Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu is in talks to direct the upcoming Jungle Book adaptation.
According to Variety, the "Biutiful" director has entered discussions to direct the picture for Warner Bros. "Gonzalez Inarritu seemed very intrigued by the property, but Warner wanted to first meet with him and make sure he was the right fit before offering him the gig," reported Variety.
The film will be produced by "Harry Potter" scribe Steve Kloves and Callie Kloves will write the script. Meanwhile, Jon Berg will oversee the production for Warner Bros.
The new film will be a live-action adaptation of the Rudyard Kipling book that followed Mowgli, an orphan boy who was raised by various jungle animals and protected from a ferocious Tiger.
Gonzalez Inarritu is best known for his work on "Babel" for which he received an Academy Award nomination. He has also directed "21 Grams" and "Amores Perros." He recently completed work on his new film "Birdman," starring Emma Stone, Edward Norton and Michael Keaton.
The Warner Bros. film comes at a time when Disney has begun talks with Jon Favreau to direct its own "Jungle Book" movie. Since the book is in the public domain, neither studio has exclusive rights to the work and therefore multiple projects can be made at the same time.
This is not the first time two movies of the same subject have been made at the same time. In 2012, Universal and Relativity released two movies based on Snow White ("Snow White and the Huntsman" and "Mirror Mirror"). However, the studios did not have issues with it because the movies' tones were different. The same is currently happening with Peter Pan as Warner Bros. and Disney are developing two different live-action adaptations.
"The Jungle Book" does not have a clear release date at the moment but more information should be released in the coming months.