Your first peek at ‘The Jungle Book.’
Disney is going beyond the bare necessities in promoting its live-action film The Jungle Book.
The movie, which hits theaters in April 2016, has already generated buzz after the release of a 6-second teaser on Vine, full-length trailer on YouTube in September and special extended 3D trailer in select IMAX theaters.
As of Wednesday, Disney is adding another innovative marketing tool to its list: An interactive movie poster, which debuted on Mashable’s Snapchat Discover platform. The new poster, which is 15 seconds in length, zooms in on an animated Mowgli (who is holding a torch) in the jungle as dramatic drums play in the background.
The Burbank-based studio created a similar interactive with Pixar’s The Good Dinosaur.
“With each new piece of material, you’re showing [fans] enough to have them understand what you are doing, but also just enough to keep secrets so there’s still excitement and discovery when they go to the theater,” The Jungle Book director Jon Favreau told Mashable in a phone interview.
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Newcomer Neel Sethi stars as Mowgli, a young boy who maneuvers the shadowy jungle alongside a cast of photorealistic animals, voiced by actors including Idris Elba (Shere Khan), Lupita Nyong’o (Raksha), Bill Murray (Baloo), Scarlett Johansson (Kaa), Ben Kingsley (Bagheera) and Christopher Walken (King Louie). The film is the latest classic Disney film to get the live-action treatment.
SEE ALSO: Scarlett Johansson sssspeaks in first trailer for Disney’s live-action ‘Jungle Book’
Favreau, who grew up with the 1967 animated film as well as the Rudyard Kipling book, said modern technology used for the film allows the classic story to be retold to a new more tech-savvy generation.
“We’re building an entire world virtually,” he said. “There’s only one main character who is a human, everything else is being built by artists and technicians…the goal is to make all of that technology disappear so when you see it, you feel you are just immersed into this world.”
But technology also became a prominent part of the marketing process.
“What’s interesting about the film is we are telling an old story with new technology, and that’s bled over into other aspects of film and promotion,” Favreau said. “We had an extremely sophisticated technological landscape that we were dealing with day to day as we created the film. Now, as we explore the means by which we share it with people, technology seemed like a very inherent part of the whole live action jungle book movie.”
Snapchat Discover, which has 18 media partners including Mashable, has become a notable tool for companies to share articles and videos. The social media app reportedly has 4 billion daily video views, with its core audience made up of mostly young users.
Many players in Hollywood have been increasingly utilizing the platform to better promote their upcoming projects. Earlier this year, Sony Pictures and MGM put exclusive behind-the-scenes clips from the new James Bond movie Spectre on Snapchat. 20th Century Fox’s The Peanuts Movie used Snapchat’s “sponsored lens” feature to give users the opportunity to selfie with a Snoopy filter.
Favreau, who also directed the popular Iron Man films, said he learned the importance of social media after the release of Chef last year.
“I was very fortunate with Chef to have social media as the main thrust of the way we marketed the film,” he said. “You have to show them [the audience] something interesting and present it in a way they can view and share. Social media allows you to directly connect with people most excited with what you are doing.”
So far, fans are excited. As Mashable reported earlier this year, Disney’s presentation of The Jungle Book “brought the crowd at the D23 Expo to its feet.”
And of course, Twitter users post their enthusiasm every time a new detail or clip is released.
Bro my level of excitement is of the charts when I watched the trailer for the jungle book. One of my childhood favorites.
— Rigo (@Rigooo14) September 26, 2015
Can we all just take a moment and pee ourselves with excitement over the new jungle book movie!? Bill Murray is Baloo for Christ sake
— Dominick Bennett (@0neForFreeDom) September 18, 2015
I CAN HARDLY CONTAIN MY EXCITEMENT FOR THE JUNGLE BOOK IN APRIL AHHH last time I was this excited for a movie was for the harry potters
— Amyyy (@Amyjoelle22) September 18, 2015
I’m 20 and I just saw the jungle book preview… Let me tell you that I’m giddy with excitement.
#noshame #oneofmyfavmovies
— Zsamii (@Zsamii_) September 17, 2015
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