New 'Lion King' trailer introduces leaner, meaner Scar — plus singing Timon and Pumbaa
Finally, the animals speak! The first full-length trailer for Disney's The Lion King shows off the "live-action" characters in all their CGI glory, including some scenes that will be very familiar to fans of the original 1994 film. Villainous lion Scar (Chiwetel Ejiofor, taking over for Jeremy Irons) delivers a new, more menacing version of his "life's not fair" speech. Elder lion king Mufasa (James Earl Jones, reprising his voice role) teaches his heir Simba (played by J.D. McCrary as a cub and Donald Glover as an adult) about the circle of life. And wacky meerkat and warthog duo Timon and Pumbaa (Billy Eichner and Seth Rogen) finish out the trailer with a classic tune. Watch it above.
Like director Jon Favreau's previous live-action Disney remake The Jungle Book, The Lion King replaces the original cartoon characters with astonishingly realistic computer-rendered versions. In addition to the characters mentioned above, the new trailer gives us glimpses of Simba's lion love Nala (voiced by Beyoncé Knowles-Carter as an adult and Us's Shahadi Wright Joseph as a cub), mandrill Rafiki (Black Panther's John Kani), red-billed hornbill Zazu (John Oliver), and Scar's hyena minions (Florence Kasumba, Eric Andre and Keegan-Michael Key).
Sadly, the trailer doesn't preview any of the film's Elton John-penned musical numbers, which will include "Can You Feel the Love Tonight?," "Hakuna Matata," "I Just Can't Wait to Be King," "Circle of Life," and a new end-credits song written specifically for Beyoncé.
The new Lion King looks so good Mufasa, Timon and Pumbaa and...#TheLionKing pic.twitter.com/Ky81X8J2Hy
— JES (@Jeesseessee) April 10, 2019
Of all the scenes in the new trailer, it's the subtle shot of Simba growing up that's inspiring the most Twitter nostalgia.
1994 vs 2019. #LionKing pic.twitter.com/qB1KxBp5pV
— Isha (@Isha__mistry) April 10, 2019
Side-by-side of the famous clip of Simba growing up in the 2019 'The Lion King' vs. the original 1994 movie. #TheLionKing pic.twitter.com/nMY0fCm6Li
— Lights, Camera, Pod (@LightsCameraPod) April 10, 2019
Meanwhile, some OG Lion King fans are reeling from the dramatic change to Scar's design.
The weird thing bout Scar in Lion King 2019 is that black-maned lions ARE REAL, and they easily could have based him off of one.
Lions with darker manes are also more aggressive and lead prides more often than lighter-maned males. Thus why Scar, the villain, has a black mane. pic.twitter.com/3t6E7eUsDw— AtlasOne (@TheAtlasOne) April 10, 2019
part of me is super excited for the lion king movie bc the lion king is my fave disney movie alongside bambi but. this isn’t scar. why doesn’t he have a black mane and darker fur. if you showed this to someone they wouldn’t guess this was scar pic.twitter.com/JKJ2b3ycJA
— 🌻Milo🔜FWA🌻 (@OatmeaIo) April 10, 2019
The new Lion King has cool yeens, but... Scar doesn't look anywhere near as distinctive as the original. Obviously some of that was always going to be lost in the RL styling, but did it have to be this much? Now he is just a thin lion. pic.twitter.com/bobA1H3CLP
— 🐾 Fuzzy Yeenable! 🐾 (@Fuzzypaw) April 10, 2019
Others just miss Jeremy Irons, whose voice performance as Scar is one of the all-time greats. (Still, Ejiofor is one of our finest living actors. Give Chiwetel a chance!)
Jeremy Irons voice as Scar was so iconic that I was watching Die Hard with a Vengeance and my little cousin heard Simon’s voice and exclaimed, “Scar!!!” That new Scar issa no for me. I’ll pass on this new Lion King 👋🏾
— Shashana 🇺🇸 (@Shashana80sKid) April 10, 2019
I’m not mad but Jeremy Irons is still alive so why isn’t he Scar??? https://t.co/VMQ105GQ41
— Sierra! (@SparkleyGoddess) April 10, 2019
Well, good morning to nostalgia and my emotions. #TheLionKing
I do miss Jeremy Irons's voice as Scar, and I'll probably be listening to the soundtrack all day. https://t.co/ysGZys6KcD— Carolyn 'Can't Nobody Tell Me Nothing' Hinds. (@CarrieCnh12) April 10, 2019
We still have 100 days until the film premieres, so we can look forward to hearing Beyoncé sing her Nala song … and to seeing Timon do this.
The bit from THE LION KING I am most excited to see rendered in photo-realistic CGI. pic.twitter.com/OuAFuGIg33
— Nick de Semlyen (@NickdeSemlyen) April 10, 2019
The Lion King roars into theaters on July 19.
Read more from Yahoo Entertainment:
Jeremy Irons smoked his way through Scar's musical numbers in 'The Lion King'
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