It is a film that has caused huge excitement since the moment it was announced, a film that defines a lot of people’s favourite childhood movie and it’s a film that we all know will make us cry but we are still going to watch it anyway! The remake of The Lion King has finally arrived, and here is everything you need to know.
About the film
It is directed by Jon Favreau, who is best known for starring in ‘Avengers’, ‘Ironman’ and ‘Elf’, but what you may not know is that he has been a producer/ director on so many well known films as well!
The run time of the film is 1 hour 58 minutes and its rated PG.
Some huge names are involved such as; James Earl Jones, Donald Glover, Seth Rogen and BEYONCÉ.
James Earl Jones, Hans Zimmer, Tim Rice and Elton John are the only people to have worked on the original animation and this movie, reprising their respective roles.
Jeremy Irons wanted to reprise his role as Scar.
To begin with Scar’s song “Be Prepared” was not going to be put in this film, however after fans and critics criticised this decision, the song was put back in.
The original animation of the film was released after ‘Aladdin’, this has also happened in the live action remake.
This will be Jon Favreau’s second Disney remake after ‘The Jungle Book’. It has also been announced that he will also be working on ‘The Jungle Book 2’.
The hyenas Shenzi, Kamari and Azizi are named after the Swahili words for savage, mighty and moonlight.
It was announced in 2017 that Hans Zimmer would be returning to compose the music for this film as he had also done for the 1994 film.
Chiwerel Ejiofor was cast as Scar after he impressed Facreau with his performance in ‘Doctor Strange’.
Benedict Cumberbatch turned down the role of voicing Scar.
Beyoncé was confirmed to play Nala in November 2017.
The film will also include songs from the musical version including ‘Shadowland’.
The film will be one of the first films released on Disney + alongside Toy Story 4.
Even though the film is CGI animated, a lot of the songs were recorded with the actors being in the same room.
This will serve as the final credit for film editor Mark Livolsi who died in 2018.
A teaser trailer was released in November 2018. The first full trailer was released in April.
The production of The Lion King started in mid 2017.
This version is nearly 30 minutes longer than the original Lion King.
Speaking about working with Beyoncé, Favreau said “Dad got cool for about a week there because my daughters and my wife are huge fans and I was introduced to her music through them, and so it felt exciting. And then, you remember, this was about three years ago, and so really understanding who she is and what she represents to so many people and the fact that she’s collaborating with me on this really helps differentiate it from previous productions. It helps give this production its own personality, because she’s such an important figure and her musical interpretation is seen as something that people welcome.”
On discussing his singing one of the most iconic songs of the film, Seth Rogen said “It turned out well, but for me personally, it was a nightmare,” in more detail he said “It was really scary and intimidating. I had to sing in the same room as Donald Glover, like face to face with him. He’s a professional musician. And then Beyoncé! In my head I was like, ‘I’m funnier than she is, I’m funnier than she is.’ But I don’t even know if that’s true!”
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