New The Lion King trailer finds Simba learning about the Circle of Life

April 10th 2019, 8:45am

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

Disney has had tremendous success turning movies from their pantheon of animated classics into live-action features, with BEAUTY AND THE BEAST making over $1.2 billion worldwide and THE JUNGLE BOOK winning an Oscar. But perhaps their biggest success has yet to come, with the upcoming THE LION KING poised to be their biggest hit yet. If that wasn’t the case it certainly will be after folks watch the brand-new trailer for the movie, which shows off far more of the photorealistic animals than the previous trailer, and teases the tragic conflict on the horizon.

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While the previous trailer for the movie was mostly meant to show off the technology as it was used to bring the very iconic opening to life, this trailer takes into the familiar story that looks to add a few twists. The challenge for the throne from Scar (Chiwetel Ejiofor) against Mufasa (James Earl Jones) is highlighted, with both characters teaching Simba (young version played by JD McCrary) about how the realities of the world work, particularly from a social class level. That adds a bit more complexity to this already epic tale and a hint at how this Jon Favreau and his team approached the story on more than a visual level.

The biggest takeaway was the first look at characters like Scar, Timon (Billy Eichner) and Pumbaa (Seth Rogen), with Scar in particular likely to get everyone going. No one should've expected anything less than a more realistic approach to the story and its look, so the brown coat and black mane of Scar from the animated movie is gone for more of a standard lion, though more gaunt, world-weary and vicious.

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Say what you will about this movie and how it could shape up to be too much like its predecessor with a new paint job, but this trailer worked its magic on me and capitalized on my own love of the original. The same goes for anyone else, I imagine, and once that score kicks on all it's all over, and anyone somewhat on the fence is probably ready to throw down their money this July.

THE LION KING stars Donald Glover, Beyonce Knowles-Carter, Billy Eichner, Seth Rogen, Alfre Woodard, John Kani, Chiwetel Ejiofor, John Oliver, James Earl Jones and more and is in theaters July 19.