The photorealistic-CGI (and oft-mistaken for live-action) remake of Disney’s “The Lion King” will arrive in cinemas worldwide next month. With mere weeks left, the House of Mouse is stepping up its promotion with the release of more trailers and TV spots, similar to its hype for the live-action “Aladdin” remake which also premiered last month.

Ever since the cast of the film was announced, prospective audiences have longed to hear a sample from one of them in the movie. Idol diva Beyoncé Knowles-Carter is voicing Nala, love interest to main character Simba.

But none of the trailers have featured her talking; that is until now.

Beyoncé-as-Nala speaks

Entertainment Weekly tells us that a new TV spot for Disney’s 2019 version of “The Lion King” at last lets viewers (and Beyoncé fans) know how exactly she sounds for the film. The short preview, entitled “Come Home,” was uploaded to Walt Disney Studios’ YouTube channel this Monday, June 3. The footage goes over some already-recognizable visuals from past trailers, framed around a scene with the now-adult Nala speaking to the also-adult Simba following their first meeting in years. “Simba, you have to take your place as king,” Nala pleads in Beyoncé’s vibrant voice, adding, “We need you. Come home.”

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Beyoncé being cast as Nala for the remake was campaigned for by her mother Tina Knowles Lawson according to Variety.

She recalled how they had watched the 1994 original together "30 times," which inspired her to push for her daughter to take up the part. The multi-awarded recording artist was not the only one who got some lines in on this spot for “The Lion King.” Viewers are also treated to the first spoken dialogue of Billy Eichner and Seth Rogen as Simba’s outsider buddies Timon and Pumbaa, respectively.

In a previous trailer they have already been heard vocalizing lines from the South African song “The Lion Sleeps Tonight.” Here they arrive ready for battle, and that is what the rest of the teaser shows.

Familiar visuals explained

Initial footage of Disney’s “The Lion King” were, while visually stunning, also accused of being “shot-for-shot” adaptation of the 1994 original animated film.

Director Jon Favreau, who already worked on the 2016 “Jungle Book” remake, has noted that some scenes were too iconic to change, but there will be more original visuals in store due to the longer running time. The “iconic” nature may also account for the familiar sequence in the “Come Home” spot featuring Simba and his usurper uncle Scar fighting as lions would out in the wild.

With the voice of Beyoncé accounted for, only that of the lead role of Simba, played by Donald Glover, remains to be heard. The two of them headline the cast of “The Lion King” with Rogen, Eichner, Chiwetel Ejiofor, John Kani, Alfre Woodard, John Oliver, and James Earl Jones reprising from 1994 as Simba’s father Mufasa. The movie is scheduled to premiere this July 19.
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