Mufasa: The Lion King | December 20, 2024 | Barry Jenkins | Prequel to Favreau's CGI Version

[filmlover]

2 hours ago, VenomXXR said:

Lets assume this isn't coming out for at least 2 years. If everything is "back to normal" in the theater game, I think this is making at least $400m less than the 2019 film.

I imagine this is coming no earlier than 2023. Disney just moved the next D23 back a year to 2022 so it's safe to assume this will be one of the movies they showcase there.

[BoxOfficeFangrl]

22 hours ago, WittyUsername said:

The fact that we’re getting a sequel (or prequel?) to that crappy 2019 film isn’t surprising, but they’re seriously getting Barry Jenkins to direct it? What’s next? Is Damien Chazelle going to direct the sequel to that 2017 Beauty and the Beast film that no one remembers?

Ugh, don't even put that into the universe. Chazelle might be looking for another hit after his last couple of projects, and he did want Emma Watson in La La Land first...

 

Barry Jenkins seems like an odd choice for this, but he surely had other options besides a Lion King follow up. So, I am more interested in this now than if Disney had just hired Bill Condon...

Edited September 30, 2020 by BoxOfficeFangrl

[Avatree]

20 hours ago, filmlover said:

Jenkins' involvement in this automatically makes this a much more interesting project than other unwanted Disney follow-ups like Alice Through the Looking Glass and Maleficent: Mistress of Evil ever were. At the very least it's sure to be a very pretty looking movie (and hopefully not as completely reliant on CGI as Favreau's was). Fingers crossed for another memorable Nicholas Britell score.

Not sure it does. Disney repeatedly hires interesting, talented directors, attaches them to a tentpole, and the movie comes out identical to every other Disney tentpole.

[WittyUsername]

32 minutes ago, BoxOfficeFangrl said:

Ugh, don't even put that into the universe. Chazelle might be looking for another hit after his last couple of projects, and he did want Emma Watson in La La Land first...

 

Barry Jenkins seems like an odd choice for this, but he surely had other options besides a Lion King follow up. So, I am more interested in this now than if Disney had just hired Bill Condon...

Since this is Disney we’re talking about, it seems fair to assume that the only reason they chose Barry Jenkins is because they wanted to make it seem like this movie has some prestige behind it, and not because they want him to give his unique voice for TLK. 

[BoxOfficeFangrl]

6 hours ago, WittyUsername said:

Since this is Disney we’re talking about, it seems fair to assume that the only reason they chose Barry Jenkins is because they wanted to make it seem like this movie has some prestige behind it, and not because they want him to give his unique voice for TLK. 

I can see why Disney would want an acclaimed young director but am less sure what Barry Jenkins sees in this project (besides $$$$, a huge incentive admittedly). Maybe a new challenge for himself or something. When Cuarón did Prisoner of Azkaban, he got an "in" with WB, a studio that also funds adult dramas, at least sometimes. Disney not so much these days. 

[WittyUsername]

1 hour ago, BoxOfficeFangrl said:

I can see why Disney would want an acclaimed young director but am less sure what Barry Jenkins sees in this project (besides $$$$, a huge incentive admittedly). Maybe a new challenge for himself or something. When Cuarón did Prisoner of Azkaban, he got an "in" with WB, a studio that also funds adult dramas, at least sometimes. Disney not so much these days. 

From what I understand (don’t quote me on this), he’s supposed to direct a film for Searchlight Pictures, so maybe that’s why he’s doing this? 

[BoxOfficeFangrl]

1 hour ago, WittyUsername said:

From what I understand (don’t quote me on this), he’s supposed to direct a film for Searchlight Pictures, so maybe that’s why he’s doing this? 

Oh right, I forget (Fox) Searchlight is under Disney now. Makes sense.

[YM!]

11 hours ago, Avatree said:

Not sure it does. Disney repeatedly hires interesting, talented directors, attaches them to a tentpole, and the movie comes out identical to every other Disney tentpole.

Gonna ab lib what another user said. There’s three options:

 

1. Jenkins gets to go all out with his vision like Rian Johnson in The Last Jedi

2. Jenkins gets a middle of the role with their touches, style and themes heavily presence like Taika Waititi and Ryan Coogler

3. Jenkins barely gets anything and is smothered to conform to the Disney style or leaves cause “creative differences”.

 

This being a PG family film makes me think 3 is the most likely option.

[a2k]

On 9/29/2020 at 10:07 PM, lorddemaxus said:

Nah, it's both. It's gonna take a non-linear approach and look at both Mufasa's backstory and be continuation of the previous film.

godfather 2 of animations 

[Eric the Fall Guy]

5 minutes ago, a2k said:

godfather 2 of animations 

Remember when Black Panther II was gonna be Godfather II level?  

[Eric the Fall Guy]

 

[filmlover]

A prequel to the live-action The Lion King is in development from @BarryJenkins, director of the Oscar-winning film Moonlight. @HansZimmer, @Pharrell Williams, and @NicholasBritell will provide the music. 🦁

— Disney (@Disney) December 11, 2020

[filmlover]

Update: @TheDisInsider has learned that the Lion King sequel will begin production in September in LA under the working title 'Wonderwall'https://t.co/1fyOWZnxEd

— Josh Sharpe (@josh_sharpe22) February 25, 2021

 

One has to assume this is the movie aiming for that July 2023 spot.

[Eric the Fall Guy]

 

This isn't really talked about until the 50 minute mark, but this whole episode is worth a listen, if only just to hear Barry Jenkins talk. I could listen to him for hours talk about his filmmaking skills.

 

Main details:

-Disney didn't intend to make this. The writer Jeff Nathanson thought up the storyline and pitched it to Disney and Jenkins was the one who fell in love with the storyline

-Jenkins is eager to use these snazzy virtual production tools and be a trendsetter here

[lorddemaxus]

Having seen a bit of the new Barry Jenkins show, Im even more unsure of this. His work is so focused on capturing human expressions, that I don't see how that's going to work on a bunch of CGI animals. I'm feeling a "creative difference" departure might happen here.

[WittyUsername]

Going from Jon Favreau to Barry Jenkins is like going from Jon Watts to Robert Eggers. 

[Eric the Fall Guy]

https://deadline.com/2021/08/lion-king-prequel-cast-kelvin-harrison-jr-aaron-pierre-barry-jenkins-1234822447/

 

Quote

EXCLUSIVE: The Lion King prequel is roaring into life. We can reveal that Waves and The Trial Of The Chicago 7 star Kelvin Harrison Jr. and The Underground Railroad star Aaron Pierre are set to lead voice cast.

 

Production is underway on the anticipated feature, which will see Moonlight director Barry Jenkins further explore the mythology of the iconic characters, including Mufasa’s origin story.

 

Pierre — who recently teamed up with Jenkins on Amazon series The Underground Railroad — will play Mufasa while Harrison Jr. is playing Taka. Additional casting is in process with plenty of big names likely.

 

[grim22]

Wasn't this... the entire point of the 1994 movie?

 

 

 

[grim22]

On 8/26/2021 at 10:36 AM, Eric Says Trans Rights said:

https://deadline.com/2021/08/lion-king-prequel-cast-kelvin-harrison-jr-aaron-pierre-barry-jenkins-1234822447/

 

further explore the mythology of the iconic characters, including Mufasa’s origin story

 

I mean, they did so well with the mythology of Han Solo and Boba Fett on the Star Wars side for sure.

[XXR vs XXR]

1 minute ago, grim22 said:

Wasn't this... the entire point of the 1994 movie?

 

 

 

 

Yes. Only so much you can do in that world I guess. I'll still be there opening weekend.