THE LION KING Remake to Feature Impressive Naturalistic CGI

The D23 expo featured many quietly screened previews, one of which being a peek at The Circle of Life scene of the upcoming The Lion King remake. According to Mashable, the film is moving along the lines of the recent The Jungle Book remake which featured extremely realistic CGI.

Director Jon Favreau spoke to the expo audience expressing his desire to keep the film loyal and true to the original. "We know how important this is, People want to know what our approach is, what are we doing," he said. "We just want you to know we're working hard, we love you so much and we look forward to giving this to you."

The film is currently being fast-tracked to the screen and is slated for release on July 19, 2019. It will feature a screenplay by Jeff Nathanson.

The project joins Disney's other recent reimaginings of its classic animated films, including Maleficent, Cinderella, Beauty and the Beast, and The Jungle Book. According to the site, the Lion King reboot will include songs from the animated film.

Released in theaters in 1994, THE LION KING was a global box office smash, grossing $968.8 million, including $422.8 million domestically. It received Academy Awards for the original song "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" (Elton John, Tim Rice) and original score (Hans Zimmer), as well as two Grammy Awards, with the soundtrack selling over 14 million copies.

In 1997, the stage production THE LION KING debuted on Broadway, earning six Tony Awards. The production continues to run and remains one of Broadway's biggest hits alongside several other productions running around the world, including London, Hamburg, Tokyo, Madrid, Mexico City, Shanghai, and North America. Translated into eight different languages, its 23 global productions have been seen by more than 85 million people across every continent except Antarctica.

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