<P> The Jungle Book is a 1967 American animated musical comedy adventure film produced by Walt Disney Productions . Inspired by Rudyard Kipling's book of the same name, it is the 19th Disney animated feature film . Directed by Wolfgang Reitherman, it was the last film to be produced by Walt Disney, who died during its production . The plot follows Mowgli, a feral child raised in the Indian jungle by wolves, as his friends Bagheera the panther and Baloo the bear try to convince him to leave the jungle before the evil tiger Shere Khan arrives . </P> <P> The early versions of both the screenplay and the soundtrack followed Kipling's work more closely, with a dramatic, dark, and sinister tone which Disney did not want in his family film, leading to writer Bill Peet and composer Terry Gilkyson being replaced . The casting employed famous actors and musicians Phil Harris, Sebastian Cabot, George Sanders and Louis Prima, as well as Disney regulars such as Sterling Holloway, J. Pat O'Malley and Verna Felton, and the director's son, Bruce Reitherman, as Mowgli . </P> <P> The Jungle Book was released on October 18, 1967, to positive reception, with acclaim for its soundtrack, featuring five songs by the Sherman Brothers and one by Gilkyson, "The Bare Necessities". The film initially became Disney's second highest - grossing animated film in the United States and Canada, and was also successful during its re-releases . The film was also successful throughout the world, becoming Germany's highest - grossing film by number of admissions . Disney released a live - action remake in 1994 and an animated sequel, The Jungle Book 2, in 2003; another live - action adaptation directed by Jon Favreau was released in 2016 . </P> <P> Mowgli, a young orphan boy, is found in a basket in the deep jungles of India by Bagheera, a black panther who promptly takes him to a mother wolf who has just had cubs . She raises him along with her own cubs and Mowgli soon becomes well acquainted with jungle life . Mowgli is shown ten years later, playing with his wolf siblings . </P>

When did the original jungle book come out