Eugene Nyavor
We all have reservations about the remake of The Lion King. I mean, that’s a huge chunk of most of our childhoods and it was basically a perfect movie. And you shouldn’t mess with perfect memories. But remakes and reboots are the new superhero movies, so here we are. The only way the Lion Kingremake was going to be worth it is with the right cast. Do we have that? I’ll let you decide.
Disney, last night, announced the full voice cast for its upcoming Lion King remake. And first of all, all hail the queen. Beyoncé will voice Nala, Simba’s best friend and eventually, wife.
(Photo: Variety)
The rest of the cast is extremely solid too. This includes Donald Glover (Atlanta) as Simba and James Earl Jones returning from the original film to again voice Mufasa. Chiwetel Ejiofor (Twelve Years a Slave, Doctor Strange) as Simba’s villainous uncle Scar, and Alfre Woodard (Luke Cage) as Simba’s mother, Sarabi. JD McCrary (OWN’s Tyler Perry’s The Paynes) as Young Simba, and Shahadi Wright Joseph (Broadway’s The Lion King) brings Young Nala to life.
John Kani (Captain America: Civil War) was cast as the wise baboon Rafiki, and John Oliver (Last Week Tonight with John Oliver) was tapped as Zazu, Mufasa’s loyal confidant. Seth Rogen (Sausage Party, Neighbors) voices warthog Pumbaa, and Billy Eichner (Billy on the Street, Difficult People) joins the cast as know-it-all meerkat Timon, Simba’s loyal friends while he was on exile. Florence Kasumba (Black Panther), Eric André (Man Seeking Woman) and Keegan-Michael Key (Key and Peele, Friends from College) play Shenzi, Azizi and Kamari, the three hyenas Scar used to overthrow Mufasa.
(Photo: Disney)
The Lion King will be directed by the seasoned and brilliant Jon Favreau (The Jungle Book, Marvel Studios’ Iron Man) and produced by him, Jeffrey Silver (Beauty and the Beast, Edge of Tomorrow) and Karen Gilchrist (The Jungle Book, Chef).
The new Lion King will be released on July 19, 2019. The original Lion King made more than $968 million at the box office and won multiple Academy Awards, in addition to a pair of Grammy Awards for its soundtrack.
From the cast to the production crew, I’ll give this move a distinction. Is there any way that Disney can mess this up? Honestly, I don’t think so.
(Source: GIPHY)
