The Lion King (2019 film)

The Lion King is a 2019 American computer-animated film directed by Jon Favreau and written by Jeff Nathanson. As a remake of the 1994 animated film of the same name, the film was released by Walt Disney Pictures on July 19, 2019. The plot follows Simba, a young lion who must embrace his role as the rightful king of his native land following the murder of his father, Mufasa, at the hands of his uncle, Scar.

Summary
Simba, the son of Mufasa and the Prince of the Pride Lands, hopes to follow in his father's footsteps. Mufasa's brother, Scar, plots to betray Mufasa and take over the Pride Lands, forcing Simba into exile, where he meets Timon and Pumbaa. Simba has to make an alliance, and rebuild himself fully to take what is rightfully his.

Cast

 * Donald Glover as Simba
 * JD McCrary as Young Simba
 * Chiwetel Ejiofor as Scar
 * Billy Eichner as Timon
 * Seth Rogen as Pumbaa
 * Beyoncé as Nala
 * Shahadi Wright Joseph as Young Nala
 * John Oliver as Zazu
 * John Kani as Rafiki
 * James Earl Jones as Mufasa
 * Keegan-Michael Key as Kamari
 * Eric Andre as Azizi
 * Florence Kasumba as Shenzi
 * Alfre Woodard as Sarabi
 * Penny Johnson Jerald as Sarafina
 * Amy Sedaris as Guinea Fowl
 * Chance Bennett as Bushbaby
 * Josh McCrary as Elephant Shrew
 * Phil LaMarr as Impala
 * J. Lee as Hyena

Development
On September 28, 2016 The Walt Disney Studios and director Jon Favreau are putting a new live-action reimagining of The Lion King on the fast track to production. The project follows the technologically groundbreaking smash hit The Jungle Book, directed by Favreau, which debuted in April and has earned $965.8 million worldwide.

The Lion King builds on Disney's success of reimagining its classics for a contemporary audience with films like Maleficent, Cinderella, The Jungle Book, Beauty and the Beast, Christopher Robin, The Nutcracker and the Four Realms, Mary Poppins Returns, and Dumbo.

The Lion King (1994) is one of the biggest animated films of all time with a lifetime global box office gross of $968.8 million, including $422.8 million domestically. It won Academy Awards for the original song "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" (Elton John, Tim Rice) and original score (Hans Zimmer), plus two Grammy Awards, with the soundtrack selling over 14 million copies. In 1997, the stage production The Lion King made its Broadway debut, winning six Tony Awards; 19 years later, it remains one of Broadway's biggest hits alongside several other productions running around the world, including London, Hamburg, Tokyo, Madrid, Mexico City, Shanghai, and North America. Translated into eight different languages, its 23 global productions have been seen by more than 85 million people across every continent except Antarctica. The Lion King 's worldwide gross exceeds that of any film, Broadway show or other entertainment title in box office history.

In February 2017, it was announced that Donald Glover was cast a the voice of Simba, while James Earl Jones was also announced in the cast and is set to reprise his role as Mufasa. Later in April 2017, it was announced that Seth Rogen and Billy Eichner will be voicing Pumbaa and Timon respectively. While in July 2017, Disney announced that John Oliver will be voicing Zazu.

In August 2017, Alfre Woodard and John Kani were also announced as cast members of the film and were confirmed to play Sarabi and Rafiki, respectively. In November 2017, it was confirmed that Chiwetel Ejiofor will voice Scar, while Eric Andre, Florence Kasumba, and Keegan-Michael Key had also joined the cast and will be voicing the hyenas Azizi, Shenzi, and Kamari, J.D. McCrary and Shahadi Wright Joseph were also confirmed to be voicing Young Simba and Young Nala.

It was announced on November 1, 2017, that Hans Zimmer would return to score the film, in which having previously scored the 1994 animated version. It was also announced later in the month that Elton John (who also scored the 1994 film) had also signed onto work on the film's soundtrack as well before his retirement.

On February 9, 2018, Elton John confirmed he would be working again with Tim Rice on a new song for the end credits sung by Beyoncé. He also confirmed that four out of the five songs from the original would make it in the remake. On the same day, artist Aaron Blaise announced that he was working on a picture book adaptation by Disney Publishing. On February 3, 2019, Skyler Shuler of the DisInsider reported "Be Prepared" will be included as well.

Filming began in the summer of 2017 on a blue screen stage in Los Angeles, California.

Music
Hans Zimmer, who composed the 1994 animated version, would return to compose the score for the remake. Elton John also returned to rework his musical compositions from the original film before his retirement, with Beyoncé assisting John in the reworking of the soundtrack and creating a new song for the film titled "Spirit". Elton John and Tim Rice also wrote a new song for the film's end credits, titled "Never Too Late". Digitally released by Walt Disney Records on July 11, 2019 with a physical release on July 19, the soundtrack also features all the songs from the original film, a cover of The Token's "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" and the song "He Lives in You" from Rhythm of the Pride Lands and the Broadway musical.

International premieres

 * July 12, 2019 (Belgium, Finland, France, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Kuwait, Netherlands, Norway, Philippines, Sweden, Taiwan and United Kingdom)
 * July 18, 2019 (Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Colombia, Croatia, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, Israel, Malaysia, Portugal, Russia, Saudi Arabia and Singapore)
 * July 19, 2019 (Bulgaria, Canada, China, India, Mexico, Malaysia, Poland, Spain and Turkey)
 * August 9, 2019 (Pakistan)
 * August 21, 2019 (Japan)

Reception
On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 55% based on 260 reviews, and an average rating of 6.12/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "While it can take pride in its visual achievements, The Lion King is a by-the-numbers retelling that lacks the energy and heart that made the original so beloved--though for some fans that may just be enough."

Trivia

 * The Lion King is the third remake of a Walt Disney Animation Studios film from the Disney Renaissance, after 2017's Beauty and the Beast and 2019's Aladdin, followed by 2020's Mulan.
 * The Lion King is Jon Favreau's second Disney film based on a classic animated film after directing 2016's The Jungle Book.
 * The film is also Favreau's first musical film.
 * The Lion King is the first live-action Disney film to feature the full closing Disney logo at the end.
 * James Earl Jones was the voice of Mufasa in the original animated film. He is the sixth actor to reprise his role for a Disney live-action adaptation of a previous Disney animated production after Jim Cummings (who previously voiced both Ed and the Gopher and partially provided Scar's singing voice in the original animated film), Brad Garrett (both of who reprised Winnie the Pooh, Tigger, also voiced by Cummings since the late 1980s, and Eeyore, whom Garrett voiced previously in Animated StoryBook: Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree and recently in Ralph Breaks the Internet, in 2018's Christopher Robin), Nancy Cartwright (who previously voiced Pumbaa Jr. in the Timon & Pumbaa episode Never Everglades) and Patton Oswalt (both of who reprise Rufus and Professor Dementor in the live-action Kim Possible TV film), and Frank Welker (who proved the sounds effects of the lion's roars) reprised his roles as Abu, Rajah, and the Cave of Wonders in the live-action adaptation to Aladdin.
 * In addition to that, the film's teaser trailer combines James Earl Jones' archival and newer recordings for his role of Mufasa.
 * Banzai and Ed are the only characters from the original animated film to be renamed due to being the only characters without Swahili names excluding Scar, whose name is a sobriquet, and Nala, whose name was created for the original film.
 * This film marks Sarabi's first full appearance in a Lion King production since the original animated film, apart from her cameos in the direct-to-dvd quasi-midquel The Lion King 1½ and two of the Timon and Pumbaa's Wild About Safety shorts.
 * The Lion King is the third remake of a Disney classic to have its music score composed by the same composer as the original animated film after 2017's Beauty and the Beast and 2019's Aladdin.
 * The Lion King is the second time that Ernie Sabella does not reprise the role of Pumbaa. The first was Disney's Extreme Skate Adventure.
 * the scene where Timon and Pumbaa refere Zazu as a puppet upon being introduced to him might be a call back to him being portrayed in the broadway musical through puppetery, which his disign does look similar to that of the broadway version with notable feature that he has white feathers as opposed to the blue ones from the original.

Differences from the original

 * Shenzi in the original, while the more smarter one of the hyena trio, was just and comical and at times not particularly bright just like Banzai and Ed, whereas here she is a much more ruthless, cold, serious, and fierce leader of the pack.
 * In the original, the three hyenas (Shenzi included) refuse to go after Simba due to a field of thorns that he escaped through being to dense for them and know that he won't survive long enough in the dessert, so instead lie to Scar that they killed him and if Simba return they'll actually do so, where as here Kamari and Azizi chase him off of a cliff and assume that he's dead due to how high it is, and decide to tell Shenzi that they "killed" him, and therefore tell Scar.
 * Timon and Pumbaa live alone together in the jungle in the original, whereas here there are other fellow animals that live with them.
 * The scene where Timon and Pumbaa perform their "live bait" distraction to help Simba and Nala get past the hyenas by performing the hula was replaced with a scene parodying the intro to the Be Our Guest musical number from Beauty and the Beast, with the hyenas chasing the duo before Timon can even sing the song.
 * The scene where Timon and Pumbaa sing The Lion Sleeps Tonight before Nala chases them is expanded in to a short musical number, assuring their fellow herbivores that everything's okay and even sings along with the duo.
 * In the original Scar verbally and physically abuses Sarabi for "not looking hard enough" for food and narrow-mindlessly rejects her suggestion to leave pride rock, whereas here he abuses her for refusing to be his mate and still chooses Mufasa, even after his death.
 * This could be from the deleted scene of the original, where Scar wants to have Nala be his mate, but refuses.
 * In this one, Nala is the one that suggests that they should leave Pride Rock, to which Sararbi is reluctant to because it is their home.
 * While the hyenas trigger Pumbaa by fat shaming him with being follwed by a Pumbaa vengfully fighting off the hyenas is similar to the orginal, the differences here
 * that whereas Banzi insults Pumbaa by referes him as a pig, Anziz call him chubby.
 * Pumbaa furiously responds with "I may run from hyneas, but I do not run from a bully!" as opposed to They called me Mr. Pig!" before vengfully fending them off.
 * In the orginal Timon cowardly hides in the ribcage prison that Zazu's imprisoned in, while here he's with Pumbaa when they discovered they're surrounded by hyneas.
 * During the flashback in the Hakuna Matata musical number, Pumbaa is portrayed as a piglet instead of an adult warthog, like in the original, and passes gas in the watering hole, contaminating it, much to the horror of a herd of zebras. Additionally, he also manages to say farted here instead of Timon immediately stopping him from  say it in front of a young Simba, which is followed by him passing gas (matching the tune to the instrumental of the song).
 * During the Can You Feel the Love Tonight scene, Simba doesn't jump into the watering hole and pulls Nala in with him, and the two go up to a high hill towards the end of the song, and the song doesn't end with Timon and Pumbaa bawling, though they still sadly sing the last part of the song.
 * In the orginal Zazu is imprisoned during Scar's rule, whereas here he is free, but hiding from Scar and the hyneas who harrass and chase him whenever he's spoted by them.
 * A lot of changes in the elephant graveyard scene:
 * Nala acts concerned around trespassing there, whereas in the original she is as curious as Simba is.
 * Whereas the original only had three hyenas chase Simba and Nala, the remake has the whole clan chase them around.
 * In the original Zazu immediately catches to Simba and Nala just before the hyena discovers them, where as here, he arrives after the hyenas.