Disney fans were taken completely by surprise this past Thursday when the studio dropped the first teaser trailer for its highly anticipated CGI-animated reimagining of The Lion King during the annual Dallas Cowboys Thanksgiving Day football game. While the footage was similar to that shown by director Jon Favreau at D23 Expo 2017, it finally gave a much wider audience a chance to see what he and his team have been cooking up for Simba and his pride when they make their return to the big screen next year. And while many devotees were thrilled to get a first taste of this new take on the quarter-century old animated Disney classic, not all the reactions were positive.
In this week’s Laughing Place Disney News Update video, we discuss what qualifies a movie to fall in the live-action or animation categories, what Favreau gets out of remaking a preexisting megahit film, and why Disney wants to reimagine The Lion King in the first place.
Watch Laughing Place Disney News Update: The Lion King Edition – 11/27/2018:
Disney’s The Lion King will be released into theaters on July 19, 2019. It stars the voices of Donald Glover (Solo: A Star Wars Story) as Simba, megastar musician Beyoncé as Nala, Chiwetel Ejiofor (Doctor Strange) as Scar, comedians Billy Eichner and Seth Rogen as Timon and Pumbaa, and James Earl Jones (the only returning cast member from the original film) as Mufasa.
And in case you missed out on the previous two weeks’ worth of Disney News Update videos with coverage from D23: The Official Disney Fan Club’s Destination D event in Walt Disney World and other big new Disney movie trailers that came out prior to the release of Ralph Breaks the Internet, I’ve embedded them below.
Watch Laughing Place Disney News Update 11/21/2018:
Watch Laughing Place Disney News Update 11/15/2018: