Yesterday, the internet went crazy over the arrival of the first trailer for Disney’s latest remake of one of their animated classics, The Lion King. Even those cynical about redoing what’s probably the House of Mouse’s most acclaimed movie were swept up in the epic spectacle of the teaser. And to follow it up, we’ve now got the first poster for the film, which focuses on young Simba.
The one-sheet echoes a familiar moment from the original movie, one which was also glimpsed in the trailer: Simba placing his own paw inside his father Mufasa’s pawprint. It’s a stirring image, as it pretty much sums up the whole story of the film.
When Simba’s young, he wants nothing more than to grow up and take after his dad. However, after Scar manipulates the cub into thinking he’s responsible for Mufasa’s death, he flees from his duties as king of the Pride Lands and is haunted by being inferior to his father. In the movie’s triumphant ending, Simba finally goes back home, defeats his evil uncle and measures up to Mufasa’s memory.
As that suggests, The Lion King has almost a Shakespearean sense of drama to it and that’s something that the remake needs to recreate in order to properly succeed. While it’s too early to judge the movie as a whole, the trailer definitely nailed that, thanks to the ever awe-inspiring tones of James Earl Jones, returning to his role as Mufasa (because who else could’ve replaced him?).
In future trailers, we look forward to hearing from the rest of the all-star cast – including Donald Glover as Simba, Beyonce as Nala, Chiwetel Ejiiofor as Scar, John Oliver as Zazu, Jon Kani as Rafiki and Seth Rogen and Billy Eichner as Timon and Pumbaa. On the musical side of things, Elton John and Tim Rice are returning to rework their original musical compositions, with Beyonce expected to sing a brand new song.
We’re hopeful that this will be another raging success for The Jungle Book‘s Jon Favreau, and we’ll find out for sure when The Lion King arrives atop Pride Rock in theaters on July 19th, 2019.