Skip to main content

Mobile Ads

The Lion King follow-up to be helmed by Moonlight's Barry Jenkins, announces Disney

The Walt Disney Co will make a follow-up to the 2019 live-action The Lion King with Barry Jenkins, the director of the Oscar-winning Moonlight, and the James Baldwin adaptation If Beale Street Could Talk, set to direct.

Disney announced plans Tuesday for a kind of prequel to last year’s poorly reviewed but highly popular photorealistic remake. The new Lion King grossed more than $1.6 billion worldwide, so a sequel was perhaps always likely. Less expected was a Lion King with Jenkins directing. The film, Disney said, will explore the mythology of The Lion King, including Mufasa’s origin story.

“Helping my sister raise two young boys during the ’90s, I grew up with these characters,” Jenkins said in a statement. “Having the opportunity to work with Disney on expanding this magnificent tale of friendship, love, and legacy while furthering my work chronicling the lives and souls of folk within the African diaspora is a dream come true.”

See his post

Jenkins earlier this year completed shooting on the Amazon limited series The Underground Railroad, based on the Colson Whitehead novel. He won an Oscar for the script to the best-picture-winning Moonlight and was nominated for the screenplay to 2018′s If Beale Street Could Talk. He also last year made plans to direct a film based on the life of choreographer Alvin Ailey for Disney’s Searchlight Pictures.

Disney didn’t announce any further plot details or casting on the new Lion King project, which was first reported by Deadline Hollywood. Jeff Nathanson, who wrote the 2019 movie, is returning to pen the follow-up.

Directed by Jon Favreau, The Lion King featured a voice cast including Donald Glover, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Beyoncé Knowles-Carter, Jon Oliver, Billy Eichner, Seth Rogen, and James Earl Jones. Reviews weren’t good (52 percent fresh on Rotten Tomatoes) but it was more lucrative than any other “live-action” remake of a Disney classic. Unadjusted for inflation, 2019′s Lion King ranks as the seventh highest-grossing film ever.

(With inputs from The Associated Press)


by FP Staff

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Oscars 2021 adds in-person UK hub for international nominees amid travel concerns during pandemic

With less than a month until showtime, the 93rd Oscars are taking another pass at the script. Show producers Steven Soderbergh, Jesse Collins and Stacey Sher remain determined to have an i n-person ceremony on 25 April in Los Angeles but told nominees on Tuesday in a virtual meeting that they’ve added a British hub after some backlash from nominees about international travel restrictions. The main event will still take place at Los Angeles’ Union station which will include a red carpet component but they are planning something special for the UK location. The show is also working with local broadcast affiliates around the world to provide satellite links for other international nominees. They said they are not totally ruling out Zoom but are hoping it doesn’t come to that. Although plans and requirements remain fluid, attendees have been told they’re expected to quarantine for 10 days prior to the show. And everyone is being told to bring a mask, even if the show is being designed...

In conversation with Christopher Doyle, cinematographer of Wong Kar-Wai cinema: How we react to spaces energizes the film

The New Yorker critic Anthony Lane described the cinematography of Christopher Doyle as “a snake — savouring the air of the streets.” Across the Atlantic Ocean, on BBC , he is credited with “changing the look of cinema”. Doyle’s “anti-Hollywood” aesthetic, associated with the streaks of thick, luminous paint in Wong Kar-wai’s films, have a striking and lasting visual vitality. It has often been described as “post-modern” — though what that means exactly is everybody’s guess. My guess is the reliance, in his images, on feelings over narrative, on style over substance — the kind that skyrocketed post-World War II artists like Mark Rothko into fame. Rothko would just paint fields of colour, and people would stand and weep in front of his large, enveloping canvases. The effect of Doyle’s imagery is not much different.  For all his artistry, Doyle is flippant, moony, and charming. During an e-mail exchange produced below, edited for length and clarity, Doyle warns, “I think you s...

Coronavirus Outbreak: Disney announces phased reopening of Paris theme park from 15 July

Walt Disney Co will reopen its Disneyland Paris theme park in phases from 15 July, days after it plans to open its parks in the United States, the company said on Monday. It expects to reopen Disneyland Park, Walt Disney Studios Park, Disney’s Newport Bay Club hotel and Disney Village, according to Natacha Rafalski, president of Disneyland Paris. Check out the announcement here We’re pleased to announce that @DisneyParis_EN will begin a phased reopening of the resort starting with Disneyland Park, Walt Disney Studios Park, Disney’s Newport Bay Club hotel and Disney Village as of July 15, 2020. Learn more: https://t.co/F5ga3qffIW pic.twitter.com/mb3PiQ4o2N — Disney Parks News (@DisneyParksNews) June 22, 2020 The company had closed its theme parks around the world in January as the coronavirus started spreading globally, leading to sweeping lockdowns and travel restrictions. (Click here to follow LIVE updates on coronavirus outbreak) Disney also said last month it would re...