Jon Favreau to direct live-action reimagining of 'The Lion King'

Image from Collider

By Darian Scalamoni

            I guess this was inevitable but in some massive news from Walt Disney Studios, they announced today that Jon Favreau will direct a live-action “reimagining” of The Lion King. In addition to the movie being on the fast track to production, this version will feature songs from the iconic 1994 film but no other details have been given just yet.

            Disney has had magnificent success with these live-action versions of their classic films like Cinderella, Pete’s Dragon and of course, The Jungle Book which was directed by Favreau himself and made $965.6 million worldwide. Now that this has been announced it’s my most anticipated Disney live-action movie next to Beauty and the Beast which will be released in 2017. Favreau is also directing The Jungle Book live-action sequel. Unfortunately, there are no release dates set for either of the upcoming films that are in development by Favreau.

            The Lion King is often regarded as the best animated movie of all-time. It makes sense as it had a global box office take of $968.8 million worldwide and won two Academy Awards for Best Original Song for “Can You Feel the Love Tonight” which was performed by Elton John and Best Original Score by the legendary Hans Zimmer. The liveliness of the CG animals in The Jungle Book were astonishing so I’m excited to see how some of my favorites like Simba, Nala, Mufasa, Rafiki, Timon and Pumba are brought to life.