Mufasa: The Lion King is coming out of the shadows and beginning to practice its roar.
On Tuesday, Disney and director Barry Jenkins played the movie’s first teaser trailer for theater owners gathered together this week in Las Vegas for CinemaCon. The teaser received a resounding round of applause for its stunning visuals and tone, and will be released in the coming weeks.
“It’s an expansive adventure,” said Jenkins when taking the stage.
The curiosity factor is running high when it comes to Mufasa. The music-infused film is an origin story and follow-up to Jon Favreau’s 2019 photorealistic movie The Lion King, which in turn was based on the 1994 Disney animated classic. “The film features the same immersive, photoreal environment that wowed audiences the first time,” said Disney global distribution president Tony Chambers.
Favreau’s version grossed a massive $1.7 billion at the global box office to become the top-grossing Disney-branded film in history and is the crown jewel among Disney’s live-action reimaginings. (It did draw scrutiny for its photorealistic style, with some saying it should be labeled animation and not live-action).
Jenkins’ film explores the background and journey of Mufasa, who grew up to be a powerful and compassionate ruler — he was also Simba’s father — after overcoming being an orphan who had to navigate the world. The teaser hints at these themes and shows a young cub who will embark on a journey across Africa.
“Audiences can expect so many things in this film — an epic story and a comedy with plenty of familiar faces. There are some absolutely hilarious moments and some with extreme gravitas,” said Jenkins, adding that there will be all new songs. “They’re handcuffing me, so I can’t tell you who made those songs, but I promise you the songs are absolutely amazing.”
The filmmaker, who has often talked about growing up poor, says making the movie was an intensely personal experience. When he was a young teenager, he lived with his sister, who was a single mother with two sons. When he’d babysit, he’d pop in a movie. He says he must have watched the 1994 Lion King 200 times with his nephews, and that the movie’s message of community and hope were therapeutic.
“And so when the script for Mufasa: The Lion King came across my desk, I was reminded of watching these two very young people deal with very complex emotions in a way that I felt they were very cared for,” Jenkins said. “This film explores Mufasa’s rise to become the iconic king that we all know. And yet what I love about it is that it’s so full of heart and it helps all these kids, like these same kids that I helped raise.”
The sequel, which hits theaters Dec. 20, follows the rise of Mufasa and features a younger version of the character. It also reveals the younger versions of the characters Timon, Pumbaa and Rafiki. Billy Eichner and Seth Rogen will return as Timon and Pumbaa, respectively.
Newcomers include Aaron Pierre, who voices the titular role, and Kelvin Harrison Jr., who voices the devilish character Scar.
Jenkins conceded it was an odd situation to go from making indie movies — his film Moonlight won the Oscar for best picture — to a huge studio tentpole. “It is one of the best decisions I’ve ever made in my life,” he confessed to exhibitors.
Disney was the final studio to present at CinemaCon, and showed more footage than any of its rivals, including 30 minutes of Pixar’s Inside Out 2, around 14 minutes of Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes and nine minutes of Deadpool & Wolverine, which is the first R-rated film released by Disney, among other footage (Moana included).
The strategy paid off. Disney’s session collectively drew the most applause and laughter of the week. And, thanks to Deadpool, it was also the only presentation of the week to include a number of F-bombs from executives and filmmakers who were happy to break from tradition and use the F-bomb to emphasize how strongly they believe in their movies after the word was first used by Marvel chief Kevin Feige when introducing the Deadpool footage. Then again, what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, and don’t expect a torrent of F-bombs like that again.
