Disney goes gung-ho on Jungle Book as it sharpens focus on India

Studio has roped in Priyanka Chopra, Irrfan Khan and Om Puri for voice-overs, and eight brands as partners, is releasing movie a week before the US

As summer vacations start across the country, studios are gearing up to attract children with a slate of movies. Disney advanced the date of the India release for its magnum opus The Jungle Book by a week, to accommodate the summer vacation dates in the country.

Brands, no doubt, see the value in partnering with these films to reach out to a wider audience. In case of Jon Favreau-directed Jungle Book, Disney not only focused on the summer vacation at schools and colleges, but built on the nostalgia the story could evoke in the country.

“For most of us, Jungle Book is a part of our childhood. While the kids today might not have seen it, there is an entire generation that grew up watching Mowgli as a cartoon. In India, the film has a great potential and we see a wider net to cast in terms of audiences. This film will appeal to people from four years and 80 years,” says Amrita Pandey, vice-president (studios) at Disney India.

The Jungle Book’s relation with India has many layers. Firstly, the Rudyard Kipling novel by the same name is based in India, with names and references borrowed from Indian culture. Secondly, back in the 1990s, public broadcaster Doordarshan (DD) aired the carton series based on the book, making the story of Mowgli and his jungle adventures a part of many people’s childhood.

“The title song from the DD show is iconic and we used it not only in the Hindi version of the film, but also as a marketing tool. The song was re-created and released a while ago, and it has got very good response. For the Hindi (dubbed) version of the film, we have managed to rope in some of the most recognised voices — Priyanka Chopra (Ka), Om Puri (Bagheera), Irrfan Khan (Baloo), and Shefali Shah (as Raksha),” says Pandey.

The film will release on April 8 in English, Hindi, Tamil and Telugu across three formats — 2D, 3D and Imax — in around 1,600 screens. As is the norm these days, the film has also tied up with brands looking to associate with it in the form of merchandise innovations and special offers. The brands include ICICI Bank, Heinz Complan, Myntra, Shoppers Stop, and Penguin Random House.

A good summer for brands

This summer, brands have many opportunities for film tie-ups given the spate of movies expected to release in the March-May period. These films cover a lot of genres and, hence, brands can hope to reach out to various demographics.

For example, Dreamworks and 20th Century Fox’s Kung Fu Panda 3 roped in seven brands amassing a media value of Rs 16 crore for the India business alone. The brand tie-ups included co-branded debit cards from ICICI Bank; special Kung Fu Panda packaging from Horlicks; and menu and packaging innovations by McDonald’s.

This is among the highest-value brand associations for Hollywood films, especially animated movies.

Earlier, in March, Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice also saw a number of brand associations, with Mondelez introducing chocolates with impressions of Batman and Superman for the Cadbury Dairy Milk brand, called Cadbury Dairy Milk Heroes.  

Increasingly, brands are seeing the value in tying up with Hollywood films in India separately as the box office for foreign films grows and popularity of franchises and characters soars.