While we were all deep in our Thanksgiving food comas, Disney was providing one more reason to give thanks. And for some of us, the unwelcome need to stop everything and do some damn work. Serioiusly, Mouse House? Couldn’t wait until Black Friday, huh? No worries. All is forgiven because the teaser for Jon Favreau’s remake of The Lion King is absolutely stunning.
Favreau is employing the same photorealistic motion-capture style that took The Jungle Book to creative and box office heights. The Lion King features an incredible roster of voice stars with Donald Glover as Simba, Beyoncé Knowles as Nala, James Earl Jones reprising his role as Mufasa, Chiwetel Ejiofor as Scar, Billy Eichner as Timon, Seth Rogen as Pumbaa, John Kani as Rafiki, John Oliver as Zazu, Alfre Woodard as Sarabi, plus Eric Andre, Florence Kasumba, and Keegan-Michael Key as the three crazy hyenas. Hans Zimmer is providing the score, but listen out for Tim Rice and Elton John who are back redoing some of their iconic songs from the original.
The 1994 animated film is a stone cold classic, and I think if you asked most people they would say it doesn’t need to be remade. But looking at this teaser, which takes us through those unforgettable opening moments as Rafikia presents a newborn Simba to the world, it’s easy to fall in love with this story all over again. I can’t wait for this, but how do you feel?
The Lion King hits theaters on July 19th 2019.
