The Walt Disney Co. has announced to make the sequel of the 2019 live-action The Lion King under the direction of Oscar-winning Moonlight director, Barry Jenkins.
Disney released a remake of the Lion King last year that featured photo-realistic graphics and star-studded voice cast, including Beyonce. Although there were mixed reviews, the movie still grossed over $1.6 billion worldwide, and became the highest-grossing remake of Walt Disney Co., and more than justified its estimated $250 million budget.
Interestingly, the sequel will also incorporate the photo-realistic CGI that was used in the 2019 remake with Jon Favreau at the helm. The film will explore the popular characters’ origin stories and promises to be something of a prequel to the 2019 remake.
Disney hasn’t yet communicated about the start of production, voice cast, and other details and we are anxious to get our hands on more details about this much-hyped sequel.
Barry Jenkins, who won an Oscar for best picture for his coming-of-age drama ‘Moonlight’, is excited for this project with Disney. He said that he ‘grew up with these characters’ while helping his sister in raising two young boys in the 90s.
“Having the opportunity to work with Disney on expanding this magnificent tale of friendship, love and legacy while furthering my work chronicling the lives and souls of folk within the African diaspora is a dream come true,” he said.
Last year remake’s voice cast included the likes of Beyonce Knowles (as Nala), Donald Glover (as Simba), Seth Rogen (as Pumbaa), and James Earl Jones (as Mufasa), among others superstars. While Favreau has been replaced by Jenkins as the director, Jeff Nathanson, the writer of the 2019 remake, is returning to pen the sequel.
We just hope to see the iconic character of Simba in the sequel as well because it is quite hard to imagine a Lion King movie without him.
