The Legend of Tarzan: King of the jungle goes all Dark Knight in film's first trailer

'You are lord of the apes, king of the jungle'

Poster for The Legend of Tarzan (Warner Bros.)

Following Disney’s lead of converting beloved classics into dark, live action adaptions, Warner Bros are releasing a new Tarzan film -The Legend of Tarzan - and the first trailer has just been released.

Unlike the previous 200 hundred films based on the man-ape (yes, there have been over 200 Tarzan films since his first appearance in the Edgar Rice Burroughs novel in 1912) this latest take on the hero follows the titular character as he returns to the jungle, having already married Jane and been made Lord Greystoke.

You probably wouldn’t have guessed that from the trailer, which seems to show a straight up origin story for Alexander Skarsgård’s character. Watch below.

Director David Yates has seemingly taken the pale grunts from the latest Mad Max film, made Christopher Waltz the villain (as always), and added a whole load of Dark Knight vibes to create an epic, well-trodden adventure.

Margot Robbie stars in the film as love interest Jane Porter, Samuel Jackson as the nonfictional civil war veteran George Washington Williams, and Blood Diamond’s Djimon Hounsou as a war chief.

The Legend of Tarzan has been a long time coming, having had numerous directors attached to the tale - including Guillermo del Toro - since 2003. Only in 2012 did Yates enter into negotiations to direct.

The most popular Tarzan film in recent memory was the beloved Disney adaption released in 1999, which was - at the time - the most expensive animated film ever created.

The Legend of Tarzan will be released in cinemas on 8 July 2016.