Jon Favreau’s The Lion King is comfortably the highest-grossing live-action remake of a Disney animated classic, with a box office haul well north of $1.6 billion also positioning it as the eighth top-earning film in the history of cinema. Despite such overwhelming success, critics were hardly raving about his visually stunning update of the classic original.
Like the majority of the Mouse House’s blockbuster reinventions, The Lion King came under fire for failing to bring anything new or worthwhile to the story, instead opting to play it frustratingly safe by rehashing the story beat-for-beat, which even extended to the songs and entire stretches of the screenplay.
It arguably doesn’t need to be turned into a franchise, but the prospect of Academy Award-winning filmmaker Barry Jenkins making his big budget debut is enough to generate plenty of interest. Speaking to Variety at the Independent Spirit Awards red carpet, the Moonlight director offered the first major teases we’ve heard in a long time.
“I grew up with this characters, they mean so much to me. I think the work that Jeff Nathanson, the writer, did and going back into really helping children and anyone who ever loved this property understand what it takes. Kings aren’t just born, they aren’t just made. They have to become who they are through a series of events that a lot of people can relate to. So, in that standpoint, it fits very well with everything else I’ve done. So I feel no pressure, I just want to do a good job.”
Jenkins’ Lion King has previously been compared to The Godfather Part II, in that it operates as both a prequel and sequel at the same time, with Aaron Pierre and Kelvin Harrison Jr. replacing Donald Glover and Chiwitel Ejiofor as Mufasa and Scar.
Part origin story and part continuation, the next chapter in The Lion King story comes burdened with huge pressure and even greater expectations, but we’re inclined to give Jenkins the benefit of the doubt for now.
