romantic interest from a poacher. Disney ultimately went in a different direction for the sequel. John Goodman recorded his voice work in New Orleans while Haley Joel Osment recorded his in California. Due to a legal dispute, the character of King Louie from the original Jungle Book could not be included in this film. However, he makes a non-physical appearance as a shadow puppet in the beginning of the film and is briefly mentioned in the middle of the film. The decision was made to keep Shere Khan in shadow during the beginning of the film to "reflect his 'wounded pride'". Reception Critical reception The Jungle Book 2 received generally negative reviews from critics. On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film received an approval rating of 19% based on 91 reviews, with an average rating of 4.4/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "This inferior rehash of The Jungle Book should have gone straight to video". On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 38 out of 100 based on 24 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A–" on an A+ to F scale. Box office The film was released on February 14, 2003 and opened at #4 in its 4-day opening weekend with $14,109,797. At the end of its run, the film grossed $47,901,582 in the United States and $87,802,017 in foreign countries totaling $135,703,599 worldwide. It could be considered a box office success, based on its $20 million budget. Home media The Jungle Book 2 was released on both VHS and DVD on June 10, 2003. The bonus features included the behind-the-scenes, some music videos, "W-I-L-D", "I Wan'na Be like You" and "Jungle Rhythm", and deleted scenes. It was released again on June 17, 2008 on "Special Edition" DVD. In the United States, the 2008 DVD release sold 126,593 units and grossed in two weeks. The film was released on Blu-ray on March 18, 2014, following its predecessor's first HD Blu-ray release, as both films were put back in the Disney Vault in January 2017. As of 2022, this sequel has not yet been announced for a DVD/Blu-ray/Digital re-release in North America, unlike the predecessor that was re-released for its 55th anniversary in 2022. To date, this sequel is only available to stream on Disney+. Cancelled sequel In 2003, a third installment to The Jungle Book