In what must be one of the greatest voice-casting choices of all time, Idris Elba has boarded Jon Favreau's The Jungle Book as the vicious tiger Shere Khan.

Elba, of Luther and Thor: The Dark World fame, is the first actor formally aboard the Disney movie, which will be a blend of live-action and computer-generated animation. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the film's various animal characters are by and large expected to be CG creations; right now, the search is on for a young actor to play Mowgli, the hero at the heart of the tale.

Warner Bros. is working on a Jungle Book adaptation of its own, with Ron Howard in talks to direct.