Ever since the release of “The Jungle Book” last year, which was critically acclaimed in addition to grossing $967 million at the worldwide box office, it was safe to say that Disney would be looking to repeat that success. Cue announcements of live-action remakes of all their animated classics, from last year’s “Pete’s Dragon” to “Beauty and the Beast” next month and everything from “Mulan” to “The Little Mermaid” to “Snow White” to an apparently gothic and Tim Burton-esque “Dumbo” on its way over the next few years. Now, casting for the remake of “The Lion King” seems to be underway, as its two stars have just been announced: Donald Glover and James Earl Jones.
Donald Glover is on a roll
This is just another notch in Donald Glover’s rapidly expanding belt. Last year, he created, wrote, and starred in his own new comedy series on FX called “Atlanta,” which attracted a cabinet’s worth of lucrative awards, unanimous critical acclaim, and a giant fan base, as well as making strides for African-Americans in the entertainment industry and contributing to all kinds of sections of the zeitgeist, from gun crime to racial stereotypes to attitudes towards slavery. He’s also been cast as young Lando Calrissian in the latest “Star Wars” spinoff, which focuses on young Han Solo and is heading towards a 2018 release date at lightspeed. And this is all in addition to his thriving music and comedy careers.
His role in “The Lion King” is that of Simba, the lead protagonist whose coming-of-age journey the Film takes us along for.
According to Disney, Glover will not portray Simba as a child in the beginning of a story, but rather just the adult version who appears later on and was originally played by the white Matthew Broderick back in the original 1994 “Lion King.” Having a black actor play this African character is certainly a politically correct step in the right direction.
James Earl Jones is reprising his role as Mufasa
The casting of original actor James Earl Jones in the role of Mufasa is fresh from his return to his other legendary voice role (and let’s not forget his “This is CNN” voiceover, but this is in terms of film roles) as Darth Vader in “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.” These reprisals, in both “Star Wars” and “The Lion King” can most likely be credited to Jones’ distinctive voice.
No matter how far and wide you search, you’ll never find an actor whose booming voice so much as holds a candle to that of James Earl Jones, so as long as he’s still alive, they might as well just use him.
Jon Favreau is in the director’s chair, having started the whole trend of photorealistic live-action remakes of Disney films with last year’s smash hit “The Jungle Book,” which had a similarly star-studded voice cast including Bill Murray, Scarlett Johannsen, and Idris Elba and has been nominated for an Oscar. “Indiana Jones” screenwriter Jeff Nathanson is providing the script for the new “Lion King,” whose 1994 original out-grossed even “The Jungle Book,” which was released in 2016’s economy.
“The Lion King” grossed $968.8 million in 1994 dollars, so it’s mind-blowing how much its 2010s remake will make, especially given that it feeds into a current filmmaking trend with Disney’s successes not only with “The Jungle Book,” but also 2015’s “Cinderella” remake, and “Maleficent” starring Angelina Jolie, and all the buzz surrounding the new “Beauty and the Beast” starring Emma Watson and Dan Stevens. Some Hollywood fatcats are about to get very rich...
