The Lion King debuted on June 15, 1994, and went on to reel in $766 million at the worldwide box office, which was the highest-grossing movie of the year and one of the best ever. Disney can’t pass up making boatloads of cash off the same property so they have created a live-action Lion King movie and it looks tremendous.
The first trailer for the new Lion King was released and it will star a ton of celebrities. James Earl Jones is back as Mufasa and the film stars other voice actors such as Donald Glover (Simba), Seth Rogen (Pumba), Keegan-Michael Key (Kamari), Beyonce (Nala), Chiwetel Ejiofor (Scar), Alfre Woodard (Sarabi), Jon Kani (Rafiki), Eric André (Azizi), Billy Eichner (Timon), and John Oliver (Zazu).
Jon Favreau, who directed The Jungle Book live-action movie and Iron Man, will be the director. Hans Zimmer returns to score the film and even Elton John is coming back to update some of the songs, but Circle of Life needs no improvement.
The teaser trailer of course has that iconic scene where Rafiki raises Simba so all of the animals can welcome the new prince of the pride lands.
The Lion King is just one of many classic animated movies that Disney has recreated with beautiful results, they also updated Beauty and the Beast and The Jungle Book, and Disney plans on making live-action versions of Dumbo, Aladdin, and The Jungle Book 2.
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Here is a side-by-side shot-for-shot comparison and the original version looks like garbage compared to the new Lion King.
Here is the original trailer from 1994 that won two Academy Awards and the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy.
The Lion King stampedes into theaters on July 19, 2019.