Moviefone Editorial

Tag: @movieid:8981

  • Live-Action ‘The Lion King’ Is Reportedly Ditching One of the Original’s Best Songs

    If this report is accurate, Disney better be prepared for fans’ first question to be “Where’s ‘Be Prepared’?”

    Elton John helped compose the soundtrack for the 1994 movie “The Lion King,” and he talked to The Sun‘s Dan Wootton about the music for the 2019 live-action movie. In good news, Beyoncé — who’ll be playing Nala — reportedly reached out to Elton John to see if they could collaborate on a new song. Elton said that’s in the works for the end credit song.

    Here’s the scoop from Elton John to The Sun:

    “They need to have a new end credits song. There’s going to be four of our songs in the film, from the original: Can You Feel The Love Tonight? Hakuna Matata, I Just Can’t Wait To Be King and Circle of Life. And then there will be an end, closing song, and we’ve been speaking to Beyonce’s people and hopefully Tim and I and her can cook up something.”

    So that sounds like five songs, total, with one new one for the end credits? If that’s official, and not just in the planning stages, what about Scar? The animated movie gave Jeremy Irons‘ villain his own song in “Be Prepared,” but will Chiwetel Ejiofor‘s new Scar be left without his own song?

    Disney tends to do right by these live-action movies, so we’ll stay cautiously optimistic. Elton John teased good things ahead from director Jon Favreau’s film: “I’ve seen a little bit of the opening of it, which is amazing.”

    “The Lion King” — starring Donald Glover, Chiwetel Ejiofor, James Earl Jones, Beyoncé , Alfre Woodard, Seth Rogen, Billy Eichner, and John Kani — is scheduled to open July 19th, 2019.

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  • Robert Guillaume, ‘Benson’ and ‘The Lion King’ Star, Dies at 89

    'Red Tails' Opening Night ScreeningBenson” and voiced Rafiki in “The Lion King,” has died. He was 89.

    Guillaume passed away at his home in Los Angeles on Tuesday, his wife, Donna Brown Guillaume, told The Associated Press. The actor had battled prostate cancer in recent years.

    Guillaume won two Emmys for playing Benson, a sharp-tongued butler who first made his debut on the ABC sitcom “Soap.” The character was later spun-off on his own eponymous sitcom, which ran from 1979 through 1986, earning Guillaume a total of five Emmy nominations.

    In film, Guillaume voiced Rafiki, the wise baboon who serves as a spiritual adviser to Mufasa and Simba in Disney’s 1994 animated classic, “The Lion King.” The actor reprised the role multiple times for sequels, TV series, and video games, among other properties, and won a Grammy for his Rafiki vocals on a spoken word “Lion King” audio book in 1995.

    Guillaume was also known for his role as Isaac, the station manager on beloved Aaron Sorkin sitcom “Sports Night.” When the actor had a mild stroke on set in 1999, he had the event written into the show.

    In addition to those roles, the actor also appeared in numerous other television series, including “The Robert Guillaume Show,” “Happily Ever After, “Julia,” “Marcus Welby, M.D.,” “All in the Family,” “The Jeffersons,” “Good Times,” “The Love Boat,” “L.A. Law,” “Diagnosis Murder,” “Touched by an Angel,” and “8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter.” On film, Guillaume appeared in “Seems Like Old Times,” “Lean on Me,” “Death Warrant,” “The Meteor Man,” “First Kid,” “Spy Hard,” and “Big Fish.”

    Guillaume was nominated for a Tony for “Guys and Dolls” in 1977.

    [via: The Hollywood Reporter]

  • ‘Lion King’ Director Rob Minkoff and Producer Don Hahn Reveal Why Fans Still Love This Disney Classic

    Chances are if you have a favorite Disney animated film, it’s “The Lion King.”

    The movie, 23 years later, is still one of the most beloved animated films of all time (Disney or otherwise), which is kind of miraculous considering that it was made largely under the radar. The film was created by a more inexperienced crew, who chose the based-on-an-original-concept (the first Disney animated feature to do so ever) project over the more prestigious “Pocahontas.”

    And while “Pocahontas” has largely faded into the background, “The Lion King,” with its myriad sequels, spin-offs, Disney Parks attractions, and the upcoming Jon Favreau-directed remake (out July 19, 2019), is still very much in the forefront of public consciousness.

    Further raising its already huge profile is a new home video release, including the first time the movie has ever been unleashed on digital platforms. We traveled to Pride Rock (aka Disney’s Animal Kingdom at Walt Disney World) to chat with original director Rob Minkoff and producer Don Hahn about the legacy of the film, some wild bits of trivia, and what they think of the remake.

    Moviefone: This was in production at the same time as another movie that was more high profile. Did you ever think it would be the classic it is today?

    Minkoff: I think we were just hoping that it would be good, that people would like it. It was a struggle for us because the movies that had been made before had been based on really well known fairy tales, which gave them an advantage for people because they knew what it was and they knew what to expect, the kind of classic Disney version.

    But “The Lion King” was new, it was something different — it wasn’t based on anything people knew. Which is why, in that early pitch meeting, somebody in the back of the room said, “It’s Hamlet.” Because of the uncle killing the father and the son having to figure out what to do. So for a long time after it was “Bambi in Africa,” it was “Hamlet with Lions.”

    Hahn: Yeah, I mean you’ve got to love that.

    Elton John wasn’t the original composer, right, wasn’t Abba approached first?

    Minkoff: I don’t know that they were ever actually approached, but Tim Rice suggested them.

    Hahn: Yeah, I think Tim suggested Abba. I don’t know if they ever came in for it or were formally approached, but yes.

    They had just done the “Chess” musical.

    Hahn: Right. With Tim Rice, who was eventually responsible for bringing Elton in. But even that was unusual. Because we were used to working with Alan Menken and Howard Ashman and some very seasoned Broadway people — and Elton hadn’t done a Broadway show. But Tim had. So we leaned on Tim to put a lot of plot into the songs. But it turns out Elton was terrific. His sense of melody was really great.

    One aspect of the production that’s always fascinated me was that the Northridge Earthquake happened when you were trying to finish. What was that like?

    Minkoff: Oh my god, it was total upheaval. I remember coming to the studio the next day and a lot of people couldn’t get into the studio. Freeways were closed. People who lived in Northridge, some people said their apartments were condemned or they couldn’t go back into their properties. It was total upheaval. We just had to muddle through. Some people slept at the studio, they didn’t have a place to go.

    This is being remade right now, how do you feel about that transition? Is it something you’re excited about?

    Minkoff: I think it’s obviously amazing that a property is loved enough to warrant that remake. I actually met with Jon Favreau and talked to him about it at length. I got to go down to the studio and see what they were doing, and wear the VR headset and fly around Pride Rock — which was pretty cool. They’re keeping what is important to keep, in terms of the story and character and songs, but I’m sure they’re going to be some pretty big changes, too. So I’m excited to see what he does.

    Don, you’ve been through the remake thing a few times.

    Hahn: Yeah, we just got through “Beauty and the Beast.” There’s always a part of you that goes, “They’re messing with my child.” But all these stories are meant to be told and retold. “Beauty and the Beast” had been told dozens of times before we got to it in the ’90s. So a story like “The Lion King” is the same thing. 23 years have passed, and 25 years will have passed by the time the new film comes out. It’s exciting. It’s exciting to see somebody like Favreau take the material and do something different with it. That’s what storytelling is.

    As storytellers, are you like: “Well, we wanted to do this but now you can do that.”

    Hahn: A lot of that happened on “Beauty and the Beast” and “The Lion King,” with the stage shows. There were songs that were written for “Rhythm of the Pride Lands” that we couldn’t use in the movie but went into the stage show. If you look at what Julie Taymor did on Broadway, it’s amazing. So I think there’ll be a lot of that reinvention when it comes to the new movie.“The Lion King” has been performed in so many permutations. As filmmakers, at what point does it stop being your movie and start becoming the world’s movie?

    Minkoff: Wow. Well, the fact that it’s a Disney movie really does make a difference. I grew up as a huge fan of Disney, the movies, the parks. So being able to have the opportunity to go work for Disney and give back some of that love that we had growing up, watching these movies, was amazing. But being a Disney movie, having that label on it, it’s already the world’s.

    And a lot of the Simba stuff was animated in Florida, right?

    Minkoff: Well, [lead animator] Mark Henn was here during that time, so all of his scenes were animated in Florida.

    Can you talk about coordinating those things, especially in a pre-email landscape?

    Minkoff: Obviously I’d been here [in Florida] and worked with Mark here, which helped perhaps. A lot of times you’d look at the test animation and give notes and if you’d been working together long enough you’d develop a shorthand. So you can be as effective as you can be.

    Hahn: I remember we were all really excited because we got a video phone and we were going to do video conferences and things — and it was the whole wave of the future. But the reality of it was that, it sent one frame after every four seconds. It wasn’t like FaceTime at all.

    Minkoff: Truthfully, it’s been so long. We’d just get on a conference call?

    Hahn: We’d get on a conference call.

    Minkoff: And we’d say, “Mark, the part when Simba does x…” and he goes “Yeah.”

    Hahn: Now, it’s easy. You just email a Quicktime.Does anything surprise you guys about the reaction to the “Lion King” still, today? I was just in the D23 Expo panel and people were going crazy.

    Hahn: The D23 panel was like a religious experience. It always surprises me, the emotion that people take away from many Disney movies, but especially “The Lion King.” It’s the idea that you’re carrying your legacy around with you and the kings of the past look down on you and it’s about fathers and sons. There’s something about that that speaks deeply to people. I’m not even sure what that is. But it’s always surprising. And I think that’s part of the reason that people come back to the story and want to retell it and re-hear it again. 23 years later to say, “Oh, I’m going to own the digital version” or something is amazing to me.

    Is there anything on this release that hasn’t been out there before that you’re excited about people seeing?

    Minkoff: There’s quite a bit, actually. There’s behind-the-scenes footage of us recording with the actors that’s never been seen. It was never actually supposed to be seen. It was used for the animators to study their performances. There’s material of us pitching the storyboards and selling the movie singing “Hakuna Matata.” It gives a window into the process of making a movie like this.

    You think any of this stuff will surprise people?

    Hahn: It’s hard to surprise audiences anymore. Everybody has already seen everything.

    Minkoff: What’s really going to surprise them is the size of our glasses and the length of our mullets.

    Hahn: We have fantastic mullets and shoulder pads. It could make an embarrassing sidebar.

    “The Lion King” is currently on Digital HD, Disney Movies Anywhere, and on Blu-ray.

  • Everything We Learned From the ‘Lion King’ Panel at the 2017 D23 Expo

    This weekend, at the D23 Expo, there was a special retrospective panel devoted to “The Lion King,” the 32nd animated classic from Walt Disney Animation Studios. And it made sense, too — the film is a perennial favorite, often cited amongst the very best movies the studio ever produced, and there’s a current buzz about the film, especially after a sequence from the remake was screened earlier in the weekend during the studio’s live action presentation. Hosted by the film’s producer Don Hahn, this “Lion King” retrospective was a total extravaganza. It ended with a choir flooding the aisles, being led in a rendition of “Circle of Life” performed by the film’s original singer Carmen Twillie. It was pretty awesome.

    But above all the panel was super informative — it was full of firsthand accounts and possibly apocryphal anecdotes from the principles that created the film, including a surprise appearance by Whoopi Goldberg. Here are the biggest things we took away from the “Lion King” panel at D23.

    The Movie Was Seen as Something of a Lesser Project

    When Hahn asked Rob Minkoff, the co-director of “The Lion King,” why it was so hard to get animators and other principles excited about working on the project, Minkoff said that it was a unique situation. “The reason was that when we were making ‘The Lion King’ it was the first time in the history of the Walt Disney Studio that two movies were being made at the same time — ‘The Lion King’ and ‘Pocahontas.’” “Pocahontas” was seen as the prestige film (Minkoff said Jeffrey Katzenberg had called it “a home run” and described it as “‘West Side Story’ meets ‘Romeo & Juliet’ meets ‘Dances with Wolves’”), while “The Lion King” was more of an experimental doodle. Katzenberg promised that if “The Lion King” made $50 million, he’d get down on his hands and knees. When the movie tidily made that, the producer and directors held him to his promise. “We made him do it!” Minkoff exclaimed.

    The Original Version of ‘Circle of Life’ Was Terrible

    Minkoff said that sometimes it was hard getting on the same page as songwriter Elton John, since the fabled musician was always traveling and performing. Minkoff remembers getting a table of the original version of “Circle of Life.” “It went ‘We all join in, in the Circle of Life,’” Minkoff remembered. The task of telling John that it was lousy fell to collaborator Tim Rice. “He’d go back to Elton and he’d say, ‘They decided to change the story and it needs to be a big anthem.’ Then he delivered the ‘Circle of Life,’ Minkoff said. “And we said, ‘Yeah that’s a good song.’” Yeah it is.Simba Animator Mark Henn Was More Interested in Scar

    Mark Henn, a legendary Disney animator whose expertise in hand drawn animation is unparalleled and still utilized today (if you’ve seen the new fireworks show at Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom, then you’ve seen some of his recent handiwork), was the lead animator on Simba. But it wasn’t always like that. In fact, he was more interested in the villainous Scar (eventually drawn by Andreas Deja). Henn is mostly known for his work animated various Disney Princesses, so this was a unique opportunity.

    “I was excited to put the princess aside for the change and looked to do something different,” Henn said. “What really attracted me was Scar. I campaigned to get the character and had this Rex Reed version of Scar. I wanted to get out of my princes box.” But others thought he was better suited for Simba, the most important character in the movie. “I had some very good council who told me, ‘Simba is the key to this movie. If Simba doesn’t work, the movie doesn’t work.’ It’s hard to say no to that.” Thankfully for us, Henn didn’t say no. And the indelible character of Simba was born.

    Timon and Pumbaa Originally Sang ‘Can You Feel the Love Tonight’

    The production of “The Lion King” was a particularly fraught one. Not internally; that was smooth. But outside, things were roiling. “It was a crazy time. There was not only an earthquake, there were brushfires, a riot. It was biblical,” Minkoff said. Hahn for his part was out of town, although he still had a run in with disaster. “I was in Atlanta to show Elton John the movie. We brought the lights down. Elton John sat in the back row. We showed the whole movie. At the time we had ‘Can You Feel the Love Tonight’ sung by Timon and Pumbaa.”

    As you might imagine, this didn’t go over well. “It sounds crazy. And we thought that we should do something different. So we had Ernie Sabella and Nathan Lane to do the song,” Minkoff said. “When the lights came up, Elton said, ‘You destroyed my song. The only reason I did this movie was to write a big Disney love song.” So we left with our tails between our legs. But we did use the Timon and Pumbaa stuff at the beginning of the end, which we might not have done without that experimentation.” That’s right — bad ideas often lead to very good ideas, especially when they’re warthog-related.

    Ernie Sabella and Nathan Lane Auditioned for Hyenas

    Ernie Sabella, who voiced gassy warthog Pumbaa, joined the presentation. And he shared a story about how he and Nathan Lane (who voiced Timon) were originally up for the villainous hyenas. “Nathan Lane and I auditioned as the hyenas. We were doing ‘Guys & Dolls’ on Broadway. I think Roger [Allers, co-director] was there,” Sabella recalled. “We were in this little booth and we were ad libbing and when we got done there was silence in the room and I said to Nathan, ‘At least we have a job at night.’” Part of their ad-libbing was the gas gag, which Sabella employed to crack up Lane during early-morning recording sessions. Quite innocently Sabella said: “I didn’t know it’d be in the movie.”

    Laughing Hyena Ed Was Inspired by a Late Night Sidekick

    Jim Cummings, who has been the voice for a number of memorable Disney characters (including Winnie the Pooh and Darkwing Duck) eventually joined the panel and they talked about the inspiration behind his character, the laughing hyena Ed. “We had Shenzi, Bonsai and we thought some of you know this. There was ‘The Tonight Show With Johnny Carson.’ And he had this guy on his couch named Ed McMahon,” Minkoff said. “He was the laugher.” But the laughing was harder than you’d think. “I remember the script was anger, lust, betrayal, hunger, recalcitrance, but it had to be a laugh,” Cummings said. Then they ran archival footage of all the different types of laughs Cummings came up with. It was pretty impressive and kind of freakish.Whoopi Begged for the Role

    It’s fascinating to think that Whoopi Goldberg, coming off of her Oscar win for “Ghost” and at the top of her Hollywood game, would beg to be in an animated feature. But that’s exactly what she did. “I begged. I’d heard they were making this and I said, ‘Can I be in it?’ They said, ‘What?’ It’s Africa … you know,” Whoopi (a newly minted Disney Legend) said, which got a huge laugh. “And then they waited a little while and I found out you guys said yes.”

    Minkoff remembers the head of animation telling him that Whoopi wanted to be in the movie. The filmmakers weren’t sure where to put her in the movie, but they’d had the idea of having Cheech and Chong be two of the hyenas, except that they refused to work together. So it became Cheech and Whoopi. The two actors were allowed, like Sabella and Lane, to record their lines together. It clearly meant a lot to Whoopi to be included and, towards the end of the panel, everyone expressed how grateful they were to be a part of such a classic film. As Mark Henn succinctly put it: “This was kind of the little film that could and to see the miracle of ‘The Lion King’ as it happened, we had no idea. We just put our heart and souls into it and had a ball.”

    It’s Coming Back Out on Home Video

    That’s right! It’s coming out of the vault! The final surprise of the panel was that “The Lion King” will be coming back out on home video, with the film getting its first-ever digital release, thanks to Disney Movies Anywhere. It’ll be on digital August 15 and on Blu-ray August 29. And yes, it’s going to be awesome.

  • ‘The Lion King’ Live-Action Remake Casts Donald Glover & James Earl Jones

    Meet Disney’s new Simba: Donald Glover. You might also know him as the award-winning guy from “Atlanta,” or the future Lando Calrissian in the Han Solo standalone movie. He’s everywhere lately, and that’s a good thing.

    Jon Favreau is directing Disney’s live-action “The Lion King” remake, which Variety said is being fast-tracked even as Favreau works on the sequel to “The Jungle Book.”

    Favreau just announced Glover’s casting, along with news that James Earl Jones will once again play Mufasa, whom he voiced in the 1994 animated blockbuster:

    So that’s two Star Wars connections: The voice of Darth Vader, and the new Lando. Just saying.

    Disney is on a live-action roll at the moment — from “Maleficent” and “Cinderella” to “The Jungle Book” and “Beauty and the Beast” — even if some fans still wish they’d leave their animated classics alone.

    There’s no official production start date yet for Favreau’s “Lion King,” but stay tuned.

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  • ‘Lion King,’ ‘Princess Bride’ Among National Film Registry Inductees for 2016

    the lion king, national film registry, library of congressThe Library of Congress has announced its annual list of inductees into the National Film Registry, and among the 25 films selected for permanent preservation in 2016 are comedy and horror classics, celebrated dramas, and historically significant nonfiction works. This year’s selections bring the total number of preserved films on the registry to 700.

    Among the most notable names on the list are Disney animated classic “The Lion King,” endlessly quotable fairytale “The Princess Bride,” Alfred Hitchcock thriller “The Birds,” Sidney Poitier drama “Blackboard Jungle,” animation-comedy hybrid “Who Framed Roger Rabbit?,” Barbra Streisand musical “Funny Girl,” John Hughes teen dramedy “The Breakfast Club,” James Dean starrer “East of Eden,” and Susan Sarandon-Geena Davis buddy flick “Thelma and Louise.” The selected films span more than nine decades, representing the years 1903 through 1998.

    The full slate of 2016 inductees is as follows:

    • Atomic Cafe (1982)
    • Ball of Fire (1941)
    • The Beau Brummels (1928)
    • The Birds (1963)
    • Blackboard Jungle (1955)
    • The Breakfast Club (1985)
    • The Decline of Western Civilization (1981)
    • East of Eden (1955)
    • Funny Girl (1968)
    • Life of an American Fireman (1903)
    • The Lion King (1994)
    • Lost Horizon (1937)
    • The Musketeers of Pig Alley (1912)
    • Paris Is Burning (1990)
    • Point Blank (1967)
    • The Princess Bride (1987)
    • Putney Swope (1969)
    • Rushmore (1998)
    • Solomon Sir Jones films (1924-28)
    • Steamboat Bill, Jr. (1928)
    • Suzanne, Suzanne (1982)
    • Thelma & Louise (1991)
    • 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1916)
    • A Walk in the Sun (1945)
    • Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988)

    Films selected for the registry are deemed “culturally, historically or aesthetically” significant, and their inclusion is determined by recommendations from the National Film Preservation Board, as well as nominations from the public. Submissions for nominees to next year’s list can be made here.

    [via: Library of Congress]

  • 5 Things We Want to See in Disney’s Live-Action ‘Lion King’ Remake

    Disney’s ongoing quest to remake every single one of their animated movies in live-action continues, with “The Lion King” set to join a lineup that has already included 2014’s “Maleficent,” 2015’s “Cinderella,” and April 2016’s “The Jungle Book.” “Jungle Book” director Jon Favreau is onboard to direct the new movie.

    While we’re excited for this latest remake, we also know that Disney’s track record in this area has been spotty so far. Here are five things the “Lion King” remake needs to do if it’s going to live up to the beloved original.

    1. Make It a Musical
    To date, most of Disney’s live-action remakes have eschewed the iconic soundtracks of the original animated versions and gone the completely musical-free route. Even “Jungle Book” only borrowed two of the songs from the 1967 version. But based on early reports, it sounds like the “Lion King” remake will include several songs from the original.

    As far as we’re concerned, musicals are a case where filmmakers need to go all-in or not bother at all. We don’t want to see another case like “The Jungle Book,” where one really fun Christopher Walken-led musical number completely flips the tone of the movie for five minutes. We want to see all of our favorites from the original “Lion King,” including “I Just Can’t Wait to Be King,” “Hakuna Matata” and “Can You Feel the Love Tonight”.

    2. Find Great Voice Actors
    The original “Lion King” stood out for many reasons, but the talented voice cast was a big factor. Between James Earl Jones’ regal Mufasa, Jonathan Taylor Thomas’ spunky Simba and Jeremy Irons’ deliciously evil Scar, the film really does boast one of the best casts in Disney history.

    The remake has a lot to live up to in that regard. Jon Favreau and his crew need to focus a lot of attention on finding voice actors who can bring these characters to life and bring depth and pathos to talking safari animals — much he did with the cast of “Jungle Book.” We almost wonder if Disney isn’t better off bringing the original cast back, but ultimately, the remake needs to establish its own identity.

    3. No Humans, Please
    “Lion King” is fairly unique in that the movie features an entirely animal cast. There’s no plucky young child hero teaming up with the lions or evil poacher trying to steal elephant ivory. The original had no need for humans in its story, and we see no reason why the remake would, either.

    Consider the example of “Wall-E.” While that film is undoubtedly one of the greatest additions to the Pixar canon, it’s hard to deny that the film loses some of its luster when the human characters start intruding on the love story between Wall-E and EVE. We’d hate to see something similar happen for “Lion King.”

    4. Leave Room for Some Surprises
    With the original “Lion King” ranking among the best entries in Disney’s ’90s renaissance, it goes without saying that this remake needs to honor its source material.

    At the same time, we don’t want to see a remake that simply recycles what came before with a fancy new coat of paint. The remake can re-purpose the old songs, but it can’t just coast by using the same plot as before. It has to be able to surprise viewers who grew up watching and re-watching the VHS tape until it wore out.

    Luckily, Favreau already set a strong example with “The Jungle Book.” That remake is similar to the original in most respects, but it deviates in many ways as well. The ending is also completely different from the animated version. That’s what we want to see from “Lion King.”

    5. Build a Shared Universe
    Thanks to the “Avengers” movies, shared universes are all the rage these days. We’re almost surprised that Disney hasn’t leaned more heavily on its classic animated franchises to build a shared Disney universe. Outside of the “kingdom Hearts” video games, anyway.

    But with Favreau helming “Jungle Book” and now “The Lion King,” we wouldn’t be surprised to see Disney start building some connections between these live-action remakes.

    We don’t necessarily need to see the Disney equivalent of Nick Fury assembling talking animal heroes to form the Disney Avengers, but it would be really neat to see actual continuity form between movies and for “The Lion king” to somehow reference the events of “The Jungle Book.”

  • Disney’s Live-Action ‘Lion King’ Has Landed Its Screenwriter

    As many of us know by now, the circle of life is bringing us a new “Lion King” movie. That project has taken a big step forward now that its writer has been found.

    Disney has tasked Jeff Nathanson with penning the screenplay for the reimagined, live-action version of “The Lion King,” Deadline reports. The screenwriter is no newbie. Nathanson’s writing credits include several notable projects, such as “Catch Me If You Can,” “The Terminal,” and the “Rush Hour” films.

    For all his skill, Nathanson is still taking on a challenging job. The original “Lion King” lives large in the hearts and minds of multiple generations, so the pressure is on not to disappoint. Luckily, it’s not all on him. Jon Favreau is set to direct, and he previously impressed with his live-action version of another Disney animated classic, “The Jungle Book.”

    We’re putting our faith in Nathanson to do a great job with the singing savanna crew. Hakuna matata, after all.

    [via: Deadline]

  • Disney Announces Live-Action ‘The Lion King,’ Because Of Course

    It’s the circle of Disney life. If there’s a successful animated classic out there, Disney will give it a live-action remake, especially if Jon Favreau is on board.

    Favreau just had success with “The Jungle Book,” and now Disney has announced the director is taking on “a new reimagining” of “The Lion King.” According to Collider, the new film will feature songs from the 1994 blockbuster, but it’s not clear what else will be changed or retained.


    So that makes “The Lion King” the latest in Disney’s series of live-action remakes, including “Maleficent,” “Cinderella,” “The Jungle Book,” and — next year — the highly anticipated “Beauty and the Beast” with Emma Watson.

    Disney reportedly has several other live-action reimaginings in development, including “Dumbo,” “Mulan,” “Aladdin,” “Peter Pan,” “Cruella,” “The Sword in the stone,” and “Tinker Bell.”

    It’s hard to know how to feel about this. Was anyone begging for a live-action version of “The Lion King”? Probably not. Then again, Jon Favreau has a good track record of not messing with our childhood memories, and only helping to create new cherished memories for cynical adults and their kids, so … let’s stay cautiously optimistic?

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