On April 7, The Knockturnal was invited to an exclusive screening of Disney’s latest epic film “The Jungle Book,” a reinterpretation of the orignial 1967 film, which was an adaption of author Rudyard Kipling’s 1894 collection of stories. The screening was hosted by Andrew Saffir’s The Cinema Society and was held at the world famous AMC 42nd street theater. Before the screening, we were greeted by some words from Andrew and director Jon Favreau who also directed Disney’s Iron Man 1 and 2. Jon Favreau had this to say before the screening:
You’re in for a real treat. Not just because I’m proud of the film, but because of the way you’re going to be seeing it. If you are somebody who in the past has felt that 3D might not be for you, it’s amazing how far the technology has come. So when you see this, I think you’re going to be really in for a treat. The other thing is because we’re in Atmos [Dolby Atmos Audio Technology]. For those of you who are Disney fans, we used a technique called Fantasound, which is something that Walt Disney was trying to develop back in the days of Fantasia, but back then theatres didn’t have enough speakers. They would have to outfit only a few theatres to get the surrounding sounds of the music that was his vision for Fantastia, which was an orchestral concert film. It was cost prohibitive and a little bit ahead of its time, but now thanks to the fact that Atmos systems have an array of speakers that are set up in a way Disney had always hoped they would be, we did a mix that was keeping in the spirit of what Disney was going for in Fantasound. So we brought back the Fantasound logo and label for this film too. It’s a pretty cool film. One thing I’ll say going in is that the only live action character is Mowgli played Neel Sethi. All the animals, all the environments are completely computer generated. We shot it in downtown Los Angeles. So hopefully you won’t be thinking about that past the first few minutes, but it is something you should know going in. Thank you so much for coming out. I know the weather wasn’t so great today and a lot of you came far away to be here. Thank you so much for being apart of this screening.
Josh Lucas, Caila Quinn, David Burtka, husband Neil Patrick Harris, Chris Cuomo, Andi Dorfman, Caroline Rhea, Julie Henderson, Ashley Greene, Brooke Shields, Micky Dolenz, Eve Plumb, Dean Winters, Eric Lewis, Chloe Hechter, Grace Coddington, Libby Woodbridge, Nico Tortorella, Lauren Francesca, Ellen von Unwerth, Jessica Harlow, Timo Weiland, Caroline Lowe, Lorraine Schwartz, Jazmin Grace Grimaldi, Amanda Gullickson, Nanette Lepore, Alex Lundqvist, Meredith Ostrom and Timothee Bertoni, were a few of the notables in attendance.
That special premiere was also presented by Samsung. That evening Samsung 837, the brand’s newly opened experiential flagship in Meatpacking, hosted a Q&A with Jon Favreau. Favreau discussed the film and shared exclusive VR content titled Cold Liars which transported guests inside the world of Mowgli (Neel Sethi) as he interacts with King Louie (Christopher Walken) and Baloo (Bill Murray) in a darkened temple. Using Samsung Gear VR powered by Oculus, guests were transported into the heart of the jungle.
“NEW YORK, NEW YORK – APRIL 07: Director Jon Favreau attends Samsung 837’s Q&A and VR screening at Samsung 837 on April 7, 2016 in New York City. (Photo by Donald Bowers/Getty Images for Samsung)”
During the Q&A, Fandango’s Erik Davis and Favreau spoke candidly about the film, and were later joined by Weta’s Keith Miller to discusses the making of Cold Liars.
Following the screening, Disney invited a group of the esteemed editors and bloggers to a special dinner and discussion hosted Essence Entertainment director Cori Murray where we reflected on the film’s many underlying themes and messages. The dinner was held at the renowned Betony. We were treated to a meal prepared by Betony’s head chef Bryce Shuman where guests had the choice of grain salad with labne and sprouts or the potato veloute soup with black truffle dill for their appetizers. For the main course guests were offered a roasted chicken with carrots and wheat berries or poached golden tilefish with celery and fumet blanc.
We had a wonderful time at the event and loved The Jungle Book. It is a must see. The film hits theaters this Friday!
