Chernin Entertainment is near a deal to acquire an untitled pitch by Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless after a bidding war.  Deadline neglects to offer a logline, but describes the story as "a futuristic Jungle Book."  I am not sure how literally we're meant to take the comparison, or even what the evolutionary Mowgli looks like.  Maybe he is raised by space wolves?

Peter Chernin and Dylan Clark of Chernin Entertainment will produce alongside Gore Verbinski and John Krauss of Blind Wink.  Sazama and Sharpless are also working with Verbinski on the live-action adaptation of the board game Clue.  Their first produced credit is still on the horizon, but in recent years Sazama and Sharpless have been tasked with a Missile Command, Flash Gordon, and Dracula Year Zero.  In case it's relevant, I have included a synopsis of Rudyard Kipling's book after the jump.

Published in 1894 and 1895, the stories crackle with as much life and intensity as ever. Rudyard Kipling pours fuel on childhood fantasies with his tales of Mowgli, lost in the jungles of India as a child and adopted into a family of wolves. Mowgli is brought up on a diet of Jungle Law, loyalty, and fresh meat from the kill. Regular adventures with his friends and enemies among the Jungle-People--cobras, panthers, bears, and tigers--hone this man-cub's strength and cleverness and whet every reader's imagination. Mowgli's story is interspersed with other tales of the jungle, such as "Rikki-Tikki-Tavi," lending depth and diversity to our understanding of Kipling's India. [Amazon]

[The image at the top of the article was created by Banksy, obviously.]

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