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 Topi (credited as "Impala", which is probably his name)
 * J. Lee as Hyena

Development
On September 28, 2016, Walt Disney Studios announced that director Jon Favreau would develop the live-action reimagining of The Lion King. The project follows the technologically groundbreaking smash hit The Jungle Book, directed by Favreau, which debuted in April and earned $965.8 million worldwide.

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

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 as the voice of Simba, while James Earl Jones was also announced in the cast to reprise his role as Mufasa. Later in April 2017, it was announced that Seth Rogen and Billy Eichner would be voicing Pumbaa and Timon respectively. While in July 2017, Disney announced that John Oliver would 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 would voice Scar, while Eric Andre, Florence Kasumba, and Keegan-Michael Key had also joined the cast to voice 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" would 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 54% based on 300 reviews, and an average rating of 6.11/10. 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."

Differences from the 1994 film

 * Shenzi in the original, while the more smarter one of the hyena trio, was just as comical and at times not particularly bright just like Banzai and Ed and had a southern accent, whereas here she is a much more ruthless, cold, serious, and fierce leader of the pack and had an African accent.
 * 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 desert, 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.
 * The mouse Scar tried to eat appears more frequently in the film where it tries to find shelter in Pride Rock and when Scar notices it where he does not pick it up and attempts to eat it and the mouse later appears during the end of the film among the other animals returning to Pride Rock. In the animated film, the mouse only appears in the beginning of the film and Scar grabs him and tries to eat him, but loses the mouse when Zazu distracts him.
 * The gopher that gave Zazu news about the Pride Lands was absent in the film.
 * Timon and Pumbaa live alone together in the jungle in the original, whereas here, there are other fellow animals that live with them such as a guinea fowl, a bushbaby, some impalas, an elephant shrew, a bat-eared fox, among others.
 * 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.
 * There are various changes during the musical number "I Just Can't Wait to Be King":
 * Three cheetah cubs follow Simba and Nala frolicking around the grasslands; this scene does not appear in the animated version; instead in the animated version, Simba pretends to be an adult lion by wearing a bush resembling a lion's mane while he roars at Zazu, pushing him into a muddy puddle and later flung by an elephant.
 * Simba and Nala rode on ostriches in the original film, whereas in the remake, they do not. Instead, the ostriches that Simba and Nala pass through start repelling at Zazu to save the spot for them.
 * The scene where Zazu was standing on a log and falling off the river in the original film was replaced with him standing on a hippopotamus which suddenly submerges underwater and then emerges while Zazu flies away.
 * The famous scene during the end of the song originally included Simba and Nala standing atop a tower of animals in which the tower of animals falls to the ground with a rhinoceros falling on Zazu; in this film, Simba and Nala frolic across a large herd of animals with a flock of weaverbirds flying around Zazu.
 * Certain scenes were changed during the gorge scene:
 * The scene where Shenzi tells Banzai (Kamari) to be patient on trying to catch a wildebeest while waiting for the signal from Scar was omitted.
 * The chameleon seen in this sequence was a different species of chameleon. In the animated film, the chameleon was a horned chameleon. In the remake, the chameleon was not a horned chameleon but a different species seen eating a dragonfly, whereas in the animated film, there was no dragonfly that the chameleon is about to eat.
 * During the part where the wildebeests begin stampeding across the gorge, the part where Shenzi tries to catch a wildebeest and fails to catch one is omitted.
 * In the animated film, Mufasa saves Simba who is sent midair when a wildebeest runs over the dead tree he is standing on. In the remake, Mufasa arrives at the tree Simba is resting on while a wildebeest pushes Mufasa, destroying the tree.
 * In the original, Scar tells Simba that his father has a "surprise" for him and tell him to wait in the gorge while Scar "gets" Mufasa, not before telling Simba to practice that "little roar" of his. In the remake, he tells Simba to find his roar here in the gorge claiming that the gorge is where Mufasa "would" often go there to find his roar when he was a cub.
 * In the original film, 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 Sarabi is reluctant to because it is their home.
 * The scene where Nala sneaks off and leaves the pride to find help and Zazu distracting Scar and the hyenas is based on Shadowland, a number from the broadway musical and a deleted scene of the original where Scar banishes Nala from the Pride Lands by calling in the hyenas, which results in the "Be Prepared" reprise.
 * While the hyenas trigger Pumbaa by fat shaming him with being followed by a Pumbaa vengefully fighting off the hyenas is similar to the original, the differences here:
 * That whereas Banzai insults Pumbaa by referring him as a pig, Azizi call him chubby.
 * Pumbaa furiously responds with "I may run from hyenas, but I do not run from a bully!" as opposed to "They call me Mr. Pig!" before vengefully fending them off.
 * In the original film, Timon cowardly hides in the rib-cage prison that Zazu's imprisoned in. In the remake, he's with Pumbaa when they discovered they're surrounded by hyenas and ask Pumbaa, during the aftermath of his wrath, if that helped him confront his issues towards those that have judged and mocked him for his gluttony and flatulence problem.
 * During the flashback in the "Hakuna Matata" musical number, Pumbaa is portrayed as a red river hog 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 saying 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 scene where both Timon and Pumbaa are chased by Nala, in the original Pumbaa gets separated from Timon by wandering off before the chase, and gets stuck in a tree stump and Timon, who quickly catches up to him, unsuccessfully attempting to push him out, whereas here the two get separated during the chase and Pumbaa eventually gets cornered into a wall just before Simba comes to the rescue.
 * One scene unique in this film is when Simba adapts to having a new life with Timon, Pumbaa, and some of the neighbors where Simba toppled over a termite mound for Timon, Pumbaa, and their neighbors to have termites for them to eat. This scene does not occur in the animated version.
 * Additonally the scene where Simba belches while the thrio are star gazing in this version does tie into it by having SImba respond with "it might be the terrmites", which is followed by Pumbaa farting and saying "...or the crikets."
 * 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 crying, though they still sadly sing the last part of the song.
 * In the original, Zazu is imprisoned during Scar's rule, whereas in this remake, he is free, but hiding from Scar and the hyenas who harass and chase him whenever he's spotted by them.
 * When Simba manages to pull himself up, upon discovering Scar's true role in Mufasa's murder, in the orginal he forces Scar to tell the truth in front of the other lionesses and strangles him friously when he refuses to, forcing him to do so, whereas here he doesn't hesistate to call his nephew a liar, but Serabi imidetely sees through Scar's lies, when she points out that he "arrive to the gourge too late", and yet he said he remebered "the look of fear in Mufasa's eyes."
 * Scar doesn't forbid anyone from mentioning Mufasa's name in this film.
 * In this film, Rafiki uses his staff to save Zazu from the hyenas whereas in the original, he uses it to save Simba from the hyenas.
 * In the original, Scar did not necessarily mind not having a queen, but in this film, he wants Sarabi to be his queen.
 * In the original, Scar calls his hyenas the enemies shortly before his fight with Simba. In this film, he calls them revolting scavengers and even threatens to kill them.
 * In this film, Simba finds out that Scar betrayed him and the hyenas when Scar begs for mercy whereas in the original, Simba only finds out that Scar betrayed him.
 * 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 film, Zazu immediately catches up to Simba and Nala just before the hyena discovers them, where as here, he arrives after the hyenas.
 * The hyenas did not launch Zazu in the "birdie boiler" geyser like in the original film.
 * During the part where Mufasa takes Simba, Nala, and Zazu back to the Pride Lands after surviving the ambush with the hyenas, it was Shenzi standing on a ledge where she watches over Mufasa who saved the cubs instead of Scar who was watching over the hyenas who chased the cubs. Also in this film, Scar does not appear in this scene until after the scene where Mufasa tells Simba to look at the stars, where Scar plans to take over as king of Pride Rock to find more meat for them and the hyenas.
 * When Simba plans on returning to Pride Rock to be the new ruler, the scene where Nala tells Timon and Pumbaa to know that Simba returned to Pride Rock to get to Pride Rock to stop Scar's tyranny was omitted. Instead, it features Simba running across a sleeping Timon and Pumbaa who notice Simba returning to Pride Rock with Nala returning sadly because Simba would not trust her until Simba decides to follow Nala's advice.
 * During the scene where Simba is running across the desert to return to Pride Rock after being told by Mufasa to take place as king, the song heard is not "Busa" which was in the animated version, but instead "Spirit" performed by Beyoncé.
 * Rafiki's staff was not seen at all until during the climax of the film where Rafiki grabs it and calls the stick "an old friend".
 * When Scar tells Simba his secret about what he did to Mufasa, the flashback where Mufasa dies during the stampede does not have a red background like in the animated film but rather slow-motion footage of the same scene where Mufasa falls to his death.
 * In that same moment before Simba falls into a pool of fire, Simba grabs Scar using his jaw to avoid falling to his demise rather than pouncing on him like in the animated film.
 * Zazu was also present during the final battle fighting against the hyenas taunting them, while in the animated film, he is still caged until Pumbaa destroys the cage Zazu is imprisoned at.
 * During the confrontation against Simba and Scar, the scene where Scar leaps through the big flames was omitted as Simba bravely continues fighting him and knocking him off the cliff.
 * After Scar survives the fall, he plans on taking revenge against Simba by building a bigger army of hyenas so he could become more powerful, but the hyenas refuse to listen and turn against him. In the animated film, Scar thinks the hyenas are his friends, but the hyenas think Scar has betrayed the hyenas as they plan to take down their leader.
 * When the hyenas plan to take out Scar for betraying the hyenas, Scar was seen protecting himself from the hyenas while other hyenas pounce on him, devouring him. In the animated film, he was too nervous to fight back and ends up getting eaten and engulfed by a big fire.
 * During the reprise of "Circle of Life" in the original film, Timon and Pumbaa stand atop Pride Rock standing alongside Simba and Nala. In this film, Timon and Pumbaa are seen standing on a rock along with other animals neighboring with the duo in the jungle instead of standing atop Pride Rock.

Trivia

 * The Lion King is the eighth of many remakes of classic Disney animated films released in the 21st century, following Maleficent, Cinderella, The Jungle Book, Beauty and the Beast, Christopher Robin, Dumbo, and Aladdin (Pete's Dragon doesn't count as it is considered a remake of a live-action movie).
 * In addition, The Lion King is the third of four remakes of animated films that Disney has slated for release in 2019, after Dumbo and Aladdin, and followed by Lady and the Tramp.
 * This is the third remake of a Walt Disney Animation Studios movie that is from the Disney Renaissance, after 2017's Beauty and the Beast and 2019's Aladdin, followed by 2020's Mulan.
 * This will be Jon Favreau's second Disney movie based on a classic Disney animated movie, after directing The Jungle Book.
 * James Earl Jones was the voice of Mufasa in the original animated film. He is the fifth actor to reprise his role for a Disney remake 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 film).
 * 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 will mark Sarabi's first full appearance in a Lion King production since the original animated film, apart from her cameos in the midquel The Lion King 1½ and two of the Timon and Pumbaa's Wild About Safety shorts.
 * This will be the third Disney 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 (both of which are composed and scored by Alan Menken).
 * This will be the second time that Ernie Sabella does not reprise the role of Pumbaa. The first was Disney's Extreme Skate Adventure.
 * Actors Donald Glover, who voices Simba, and James Earl Jones, who voices Mufasa, both had roles in the Star Wars Saga: Glover plays young Lando Calrissian in Solo while Jones voices Darth Vader in the the main Star Wars films (except the sequel trilogy) that featured him and reprised the role in Rogue One.
 * Chiwetel Ejiofor who voices Scar and Alfre Woodard who voices Sarabi previously collaborated in the Academy Award winning film, 12 Years a Slave.
 * This is the second movie collaboration between Donald Glover and Chiwetel Ejiofor after The Martian.
 * The scene where Timon and Pumbaa refer to Zazu as a puppet upon their introduction to him might be a call back to his portrayal in the Broadway musical through puppetry. His design is similar in appearance to the Broadway version with a notable feature of white feathers as opposed to the blue ones from the original.
 * Billy Eichner who voices Timon and Keegan-Michael Key who voices Kamari previously worked together in The Angry Birds Movie.
 * This is the second Disney film to feature the voice of Keegan-Michael Key in a same year, following his voice role of Ducky in Toy Story 4.
 * Jon Favreau, Donald Glover, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Alfre Woodard, John Kani, and Florence Kasumba all have roles in the Marvel Cinematic Universe: Favreau directed two Iron Man films and plays Happy Hogan as well serves as executive producer to a majority of the films in the MCU, Glover plays Aaron Davis, Ejiofor plays Baron Mordo, Woodard plays Mariah Dillard as well as Miriam Sharpe in a cameo role, while Kani and Kasumba portrays T'Chaka and Ayo, respectively.
 * This is the first remake of a Disney Animated Canon film and the third Disney film overall after Toy Story 4 and Frozen II to be streamed on Disney+.