The longest buildup at the Live Action Film presentation at Disney’s D23 Expo is when the lights went dark for a good minute and then a shot of a sunrise above a beautiful serengeti appeared on screen to the tune of “Nants ingonyama bagithi baba.”
Fam, the live action Lion King looks so good!
In what looks like a re-creation of the opening scene from the acclaimed 1994 animated film, the audience is shown Rhinos grazing, gazelles strutting, cranes in the sky, ants, elephants, and zebras scattered, and finally a live action version of Rafiki the baboon, crawling onto Pride Rock.
Seeing that iconic tableau of Rafiki holding Simba out for the animal kingdom, and all the animals going wild in celebration of their new king really took everyone’s breath away.
Directed by Jon Favreau, the film shares that same realism as his previous project The Jungle Book (2016), and baby Simba looks cuddlier than ever.
While there was no dialogue in the clip, it has already been announced that Donald Glover will voice Simba and James Earl Jones will voice Mufasa when the film comes out in 2019.
I just can’t wait to be king. #Simba