On Thursday, November 2, Disney Live Action spilled the beans about the complete all-star cast of "The Lion King," Jon Favreau's version of Disney's 1994 hit film.
Favreau's new take on the very well-received animated film has been floating around the rumor mill for some time now. Here's everything you need to know.
A star-studded cast
The upcoming remake stars the voices of Alfre Woodard (as Simba’s mother), John Kani (as Rafiki), John Oliver (as Zasu), Seth Rogen and Billy Eichner (as Pumbaa and Timon), Chiwetel Ejiofor (as the wily Scar), James Earl Jones (as Mufasa), Donald Glover (as Simba), and Beyonce Knowles-Carter (as Nala).
Shahadi Wright Joseph and JD McCrary will lend their voices to the younger versions of Nala and Simba. However, the burning question on everyone's mind amid the ongoing debate is whether or not Beyonce's character, Nala is a Disney princess?
According to a report by VanityFair, the character of Nala can be technically dubbed as a Disney queen, which the report deems a more fitting title for the former Destiny's Child lead singer. On Thursday, November 2, Beyonce shared a photo of the entire cast on her official Facebook page, and captioned it, "#TheLionKing 2019."
Official release date
Jon Favreau, who directed 2016 fantasy adventure film, "The Jungle Book" for Walt Disney Pictures, will be directing the project from a script by Jeff Nathanson, which according to Variety is adapted from Jonathan Roberts, Linda Woolverton, and Irene Mecchi's 1994 screenplay.
Karen Gilchrist, Jeffrey Silver, and Jon Favreau are producing the recently announced "The Lion King" remake with Thomas Schumacher and Tom Peitzman exec producing, and John Bartnicki co-producing.
Referring to the upcoming film's star cast in a statement, Favreau noted that it is a director’s dream to bring a talented team like this together in order to bring the iconic story of Simba to life.
"The Lion King" remake is slated to hit the theatres on July 19, 2019, joining Disney's blooming roster of live-action adaptations. Aside from another version of the hit 1994 film, Disney is also likely to come up with live-action adaptations of a myriad of other films including "Aladdin", "Dumbo," and "The Little Mermaid."
Other details
In addition to the recently released "Beauty and the Beast," the popular brand is responsible for some of box office's biggest hits such as "Cinderella," and "The Jungle Book." Bill Condon directed musical romantic fantasy film, Beauty and the Beast made over a whopping $1.2 billion worldwide.
Meanwhile, 1994 original "The Lion King," which featured songs composed by Elton John with lyrics by Tim Rice, made a staggering $968 million at the box office globally and led to an outstanding Broadway show.
