The First Trailer for Disney’s Live-Action ‘The Lion King’ Will Give You Goosebumps
Disney just gave us something totally unexpected to be thankful for this Thanksgiving weekend. On Thursday, November 22, the first trailer for the upcoming live-action Lion King reboot debuted, and the short clip is already living up to all of our expectations.
“Everything the light touches is our kingdom,” Mufasa, voiced once again by James Earl Jones, says in a voiceover as the camera pans over the same African landscape made familiar in the 1994 animated original. “But a king’s time as ruler rises and falls like the sun.”
“One day, the sun will set on my time here,” he continues, “and will rise with you as the new king.” It’s at this moment that we get our first glimpse of baby Simba — an impossibly adorable CGI rendering — as the iconic song “Circle of Life” by Carmen Twillie and Lebo M. plays.
The live-action Disney remake was directed by Jon Favreau, who also helmed the 2016 live-action reboot of The Jungle Book. When The Lion King was originally released in 1994, it garnered critical and massive commercial success, at one point becoming the second-highest-grossing film of all time (24 years later, it currently sits at number 39).
One year ago, the already-anticipated reboot received a major boost when Disney announced the all-star voice cast, including Donald Glover as Simba, Beyoncé as Nala, Chiwetel Ejiofor as Scar, Seth Rogen as Pumbaa, Billy Eichner as Timon, and more. Other than a candid cast pic shared by Favreau in October, this is the first we’ve seen of the upcoming film.
The Lion King opens in theaters July 19, 2019.
What did you think of the first Lion King teaser? Let us know @BritandCo!
(photo via Walt Disney Studios)
