While the 3D animated take on Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Tarzan will beat it into cinemas, Warner Bros. has officially announced both the start of work and a July 2016 release date for its own big budget, live-action 3D version, to be directed by David Yates and starring Alexander Skarsgard.
This one has been coming together for a while now, hitting the odd roadblock along the way, but gathering a cast that also includes Margot Robbie, Christoph Waltz and Samuel L. Jackson.
Yates is overseeing pre-production on the film, which has had script input from the likes of Stuart Beattie, Craig Brewer, John Collee and Adam Cozad. Skarsgard will play the iconic ape man after he has left the jungle and settled in London, only to be called back into action at the behest of Queen Victoria. Her Majesty asks him to investigate dodgy dealings around a mine. Wolf Of Wall Street’s Robbie is now signed as Jane, while Jackson will be a comrade and Waltz a villain.
“We have assembled a phenomenal international cast to tell this extraordinary story. Warner Bros. has also enjoyed long and successful collaborations with both David Yates and Jerry Weintraub, and we look forward to seeing what they and the entire team have in store for this timeless tale,” said the studio’s president of creative development and worldwide production Greg Silverman.
The date – though there’s been no announcement as to whether that will stick worldwide – primes the film as one of Warners’ big summer tentpoles for that year, joining the Man Of Steel sequel, which moved to May 2016 last month.