"Nants ingonyama bagithi baba (there comes a lion)! Sithi uhhmm ingonyama (oh yes, it's a lion)!"
Sorry, I needed to get that out of my system before moving on to the news portion of this article. Actually, wait … nope, I'm not done yet. I feel another song coming on. Sing this one with me, okay? Are you ready?
"Hakuna Matata! What a wonderful phrase. Hakuna Matata!Ain't no passing craze. It means no worries. For the rest of your days. It's our problem-free philosophy Hakuna Matata!"
Ah, don't you feel better now that we've got that out and into the open? I know that I sure do! Anyway, the reason I've got songs from Disney's THE LION KING parading around in my head is because it's been announced that comedians Seth Rogen and Billy Eichner are in final negotiations to join Jon Favreau's live-action version of THE LION KING!
Naturally, Rogen will voice the warthog Pumbaa, while Eichner will lend his whiny vocal stylings to the meerkat Pumbaa. I say whiny, but in all honesty, Eichner has really grown on me in the past few years thanks to his hilarious 'Billy on the Street' skits. As far as Seth Rogen, I've loved that guy since the days of FREAKS AND GEEKS – one of my favorite television series of all-time.
Rogen and Eichner will join Donald Glover who will lead the charge as the lion cub Simba while the legendary James Earl Jones will voice Simba's father Mufasa. The question now is, who will voice the characters of Scar, Nala, and the hyenas?
THE LION KING will proudly strut into theaters on July 19, 2019.