Germany’s Studio 100 International (Maya the Bee) and Paris-based Gaumont Animation (Stillwater) are working on Jungle Book: Cub Club Adventures (working title) for preschoolers. This 52 x 11-minute CG-animated concept was created by Josh Fisher under his I Josh Around development shingle. 

Like other adaptations that have come before it, the project is based on The Jungle Book, a Nobel Prize-winning collection of stories penned by English writer Rudyard Kipling at the turn of the 20th century. But Cub Club Adventures will target four- to seven-year-olds with a premise that features a much younger Mowgli. 

Fisher is executive producing with Studio 100’s Richard Rowe and Gaumont’s Terry Kalagian (president of global animation, kids & family). Prior to setting up I Josh Around in 2019, Fisher worked as a senior manager for kids & family at Netflix, and at Spin Master as a senior creative director and executive producer.

This marks the second project to emerge from a first-look deal that Studio 100 and Gaumont signed last year to co-produce family-friendly animated films and series together. They previously partnered on a series called Ash that also involved Germany’s Bigchild Entertainment.

The Jungle Book IP has been in the public domain for several decades now, but this concept’s aged-down approach immediately appealed to Studio 100, says Rowe. “This was the clearest one-line pitch for a show we have ever heard. We already know how beloved the franchise is among kids and families, and it felt like the perfect time to delve into Mowgli’s early years, appealing to a slightly younger audience.”

The Jungle Book has been adapted for TV and film numerous times already, including Walt Disneyss classic animated musical feature (1967), WB/Netflix’s Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle (2018) and a series of live-action Disney remakes in 1994, 1998 and 2016 (pictured). 

Featured image: The Walt Disney Studios’ The Jungle Book (2016)