Can You Feel the Love Tonight?
This weekend definitely had Disney giving thanks for the record breaking release of their newest teaser trailer for the live-action remake of “The Lion King”. The trailer reached 224.6 million global views in 24 hours, which broke a personal record for Disney and on a global scale, made it the second most viewed trailer from any studio in that time frame, behind “Avengers: Infinity War” which attracted 238 million views. Disney made their gratitude public with the following Instagram post:
Could this level of interest in the trailer mean that the king of the jungle might also become the king of the box-office? We’ll have to wait until the films release date of July 2019 to find out, but so far the response has been predominantly positive, with a few negative exceptions… Most of the criticism surrounding the film has to do with it’s categorization as “live-action”. If you’re one of the millions of people who have seen the trailer, you’d know that it appears to be almost entirely CGI, leading many to question whether this qualifies the film as live-action or animation. This fan tweet pretty much perfectly exemplifies the general concern, i.e. where the lions at Disney???
Can someone please explain to me why they are calling it a âlive-action Lion Kingâ when itâs 100% CGI and there is no way Disney filmed even one live lion
â Dana Schwartz (@DanaSchwartzzz) November 25, 2018
Although this issue is the leading complaint and seems understandable, it has been made clear that the film, directed by Jon Favreau who also directed the successful “The Jungle Book” 2016 live-action remake, was filmed on a bluescreen stage using traditional live-action methods, accentuated and supplemented by CGI elements, therefore qualifying it as live-action. But that’s not all, devoted “Lion King” fans were also quick to criticize the trailer for a lack of originality, seeming like a mirror image of the original 1994 animated film. For example, check out these side-by-side catches made by Light, Camera, Pod on Twitter:
Here’s a side-by-side of ‘The Lion King’ trailer with the same scenes from the 1994 original movie. #TheLionKing pic.twitter.com/nHpKHWDzPJ
â Lights, Camera, Pod (@LightsCameraPod) November 22, 2018
Luckily, these minor comments were greatly overshadowed by the roaring, positive response from audiences everywhere. Check out some of our favorite excited fan Tweets below and get ready to see Donald Glover, Beyoncé, Seth Rogen, Billy Eichner and more in “The Lion King” next summer!
Disney movies coming out in 2019:
Dumbo
Toy Story 4
Lion King
AladdinMe: pic.twitter.com/Hdftt76kZS
â Ù ÙصÙر اÙÙÙعاÙÙ (@MansourAlkanani) November 25, 2018
This is soooo cute.ð#LionKing pic.twitter.com/SSMiLwnMID
â Rabia Bro (@rabiaaaaa98) November 25, 2018
90s kids flooding into the theater to see The Lion King next year… pic.twitter.com/iNLzvapMVw
â Pip âï¸ â ï¸ ð¸ð´ââ ï¸ (@pirateherojones) November 25, 2018
my reaction when âThe Circle Of Lifeâ comes on during the new Lion King movie. pic.twitter.com/I0t1eYzpk5
â Jes (@DoYouEvenLIf) November 26, 2018
Me watching Scar betray Mufasa in the live action Lion King like I have never seen the original pic.twitter.com/qXQcAXHFWW
â Cameron Williams (@camphoon) November 26, 2018
Me at the movies in 2019, seeing Toy Story 4, Aladdin and The Lion King. pic.twitter.com/TfYwFYbrMD
â Hassan ð¢ (@HsnMnr) November 26, 2018
Me: âIâm too grown for kid movies lmao.â
*Lion King trailer comes up*
Me: pic.twitter.com/Pa3xdVo8dW
â Armin (@GIucosebaba) November 24, 2018
What did you think of the new “Lion King” trailer? Let us know in the comments!
And since we have a while to wait until the film is released, let’s look back at our pick of the Top 10 Songs from The Lion King Franchise