Jon Favreau assures the new Lion King is not a shot-for-shot remake

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

While DUMBO didn't quite soar at the box office, none of that will matter when Disney unleashes THE LION KING into the world and it makes enough money to justify a dozen flops. While the footage we’ve gotten has earned wild praise online, the trailers for the movie from Jon Favreau (THE JUNGLE BOOK) have many claiming it will be nothing more than a shot-for-shot remake, given the similarity between shots in the trailers and scenes from the original.

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That case seems somewhat valid given how the first teaser was a recreation of the original movie’s opening scene but with a CG makeover, and the second trailer showed several scenes that look plucked from the original as well. However, director Jon Favreau was speaking with USA Today when he assured his movie is far from a shot-for-shot remake. He said that for this new outing the humor has been updated while the iconic moments are intact and that they accomplished the goal of changing things up enough to satisfy everyone.

“The original holds up incredibly well, so the challenge here was to tell a story in a different way but still deliver on people's expectations while surprising them somehow.”

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After THE JUNGLE BOOK came out to rave reviews and made almost $1 billion worldwide, it didn’t take long for Disney to greenlight the remake of LION KING with Favreau in charge. The movie will utilize the same photorealistic CGI that was used in BOOK, making the animals look as real as possible (and setting up KING for an Oscar of its own). Also as a way of switching things up, Elton John will be reworking his songs from the original movie for the remake, with him, Tim Rice and Beyoncé Knowles-Carter (also voicing Nala) collaborating on a new song to be featured in the movie.

Other successful movies in Disney’s line of remakes – like BEAUTY AND THE BEAST and JUNGLE BOOK – haven’t changed that much up from the originals, aside from more realistic tones and giving them a visual paint job. THE LION KING is my personal favorite animated movie, and on that note, I don’t really care if the movie were near-identical to the original. Between the new voice cast, reworked music, slight story changes and a new visual aesthetic there’s enough going for it that will provide a new spin on the classic tale. If it all fails, then at least we will have the original. Hell, do it all with puppets this time and I'll still see it. 

THE LION KING is in theaters July 19.