Two movie renditions of the very familiar short story are on the horizon and it's pitting pretty good names against each other.

The Hollywood Reporter said that "The Jungle Book: Origins," Warner Bros. film adaptation of the Rudyard Kipling short story, has gotten an impressive list of actors and actresses to play the animated roles.

"Christian Bale, Cate Blanchett, Naomie Harris, Tom Hollander, Eddie Marsan and Peter Mullan are joining Benedict Cumberbatch to star as the animal characters in the feature. Rohan Chand, the young actor who starred opposite Jason Bateman in 'Bad Words,' will star as the human boy Mowgli," said the entertainment news outlet.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Bale will voice Bagheera, a "fearsome" panther who saves Mowgli from Shere Khan, a character played by Cumberbatch. Blanchett will play the voice behind Kaa the python while "Hollander will play Tabaqui, the jackal who is an underling of Shere Khan," the outlet added.

Marsan and Harris play wolf couple Vihaan and Nisha. Mullan will be voicing the leader of the wolf pack and Mowgli's adoptive family, Akela, said The Hollywood Reporter.

On the other hand, Disney's "The Jungle Book" film adaptation has Idris Elba for Shere Khan, Bill Murray as Baloo, Ben Kingsley as Bagheera, Scarlett Johansson as Kaa, Lupita Nyong'o as Raksha and Neil Sethi as Mowgli, stated Screen Rant.

Cumberbatch, not a stranger to voice acting - having have played Smaug in Peter Jackson's "The Hobbit" trilogy and Khan in "Star Trek: Into Darkness," is reportedly a great addition to the cast, said Screen Rant in another report.

In fact, his voice is allegedly "perfectly well suited to Shere Khan's purr," the outlet added. But Elba could also do well in terms of playing the villain role.

The Guardian noted that the character is most famously linked to George Sanders - the actor who voiced the "nefarious man-eating tiger" in Disney's animated 1967 musical adaptation.

Perhaps the Shere Khan portrayal will also be dependent, in part, on the directors of the film. Warner Bros. adaptation has Andy Serkis in the director's chair while Disney's film has Jon Favreau in charge.

It won't be the first time that Serkis will work with Cumberbatch, with whom he has filmed "The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug" with.

One thing's for sure though - Favreau will have to deliver first as according to Screen Rant, the Disney version is set to hit the big screen earlier on October 19, 2015 while "The Jungle Book: Origins" won't be out until October 21, 2016.

Who do you think will play the better Shere Khan?