Barry Jenkins revealed that his upcoming film will feature “a ton of familiar faces”. The Lion Kingprequel, Mufasa. In a new interview with Entertainment Weekly at the D23 show in Anaheim, California, Jenkins talked about how The Lion King the prequel will include new stories about characters we know and love.
“I thought I knew everything about Mufasa,” Jenkins recalled when he was first given the script for the film. Mufasa: The Lion King. “Mufasa is a king, the greatest king of the Pride Lands, and you assume that he only became that way because he is. And I thought the studio and Jeff Nathanson, who wrote the script, did a great job of really exploring how people become great.” Jenkin’s plan for the new film is to tell the story of how “a lot of familiar faces” who returned to the film, which will use photorealistic CGI technology, become who they are when we meet them in The Lion King. “It’s still the same characters… We’re going back in time with many of the [them]. We are also in the present, but we will also return to reveal who these characters were.”
At D23, Disney revealed the cast of the new movie, which included voice actors from the previous live-action movie in 2019, The Lion Kingand the original 1994 animated film. Young Mufasa will be voiced in the prequel Aaron Pierrethe old version was announced James Earl Jones in both the remake and the original 1994 film. Other “familiar faces” Jenkins mentioned included Rafiki’s mandrill (voiced by John Kani), meerkat Timon (Billy Eichner), Pumbaa warthog (Seth Rogan) and the antagonist Taka (who would later become known as Scar, voiced by Calvin Harrison Jr.).
In the same interview, Jenkins also revealed that there would be musical numbers in the film. “Please wait for musical numbers. I would say really wonderful musical numbers,” he said. In a video shared electronic warfareJenkins’ hint was followed by an excerpt from the classic animated film song “Hakuna Matata”, written by Jimmy Cliff as well as Lebo M. Last year at Disney’s Investor Day, it was announced that Hans Zimmerwho wrote the soundtrack for the remake of the live-action action movie, will return in the prequel along with Nicholas Britell as well as Farrell.
Mufasa: The Lion Kingwhich will be released in 2024, will tell about the events that preceded The Lion King. The new movie will include flashbacks to Mufasa from the perspective of Rafiki, Timon and Pumbaa. The Lion King (2019) corresponds to the 1994 animated film which tells the story of the adventurous young lion cub Simba (voiced by Jonathan Taylor Thomas in original and Donald Glover as well as JD McCrary in the remake). After being led to believe that he caused his father’s death, Simba runs away from his home on Pride Rock, but later returns as an adult to take his rightful place on the throne after his uncle Scar takes over.
Mufasa: The Lion King The movie will premiere in theaters on July 5, 2024.
Source: Collider
