The Lion King (Live-Action)

[Disney's Divinity]

Well, that was quick.

‘The Lion King’ Crosses $1 Billion Worldwide
https://www.thewaltdisneycompany.com/th ... worldwide/

I always thought it would do at least 2 billion, but now I wonder if it might actually come close to 3 billion.

[Sotiris]

While Beyonce's The Lion King-inspired album "The Gift" debuted at no. 2 on Billboard 200 chart in the U.S., it is under-performing overseas. The Lion King soundtrack debuted at no. 31 on Billboard 200 and rose to no. 13 in its second week.

I can reveal Bey, who voices Nala in the film, was paid £25 million for the movie, official soundtrack and this accompanying album, but it has failed to strike a chord with fans. But in a massive blow to Disney, she is now being outsold four to one on downloads by Brit newcomer Freya Ridings.

A Disney insider said: “Bosses did everything they could to get Beyonce on board because they know she is so loved. There has been a lot of buzz around the film and Beyonce’s involvement but her spin-off album has been massively disappointing. The Greatest Showman’s soundtrack was the biggest-selling album of 2018, and Disney had hoped that getting someone as huge as Beyonce to do an album like this could match its success. But her records clearly don’t have the pulling power they once did. For someone like Beyonce, who is seen as an unstoppable force in music, it’s remarkable that she is being beaten in the charts by an emerging talent like Freya.”

Source: https://www.thesun.co.uk/tvandshowbiz/9 ... bum-flops/

[Disney's Divinity]

Well, The Gift isn’t the soundtrack and it’s not an album release for her either, it's in a grey area. The performance doesn’t seem that strange to me considering it’s like a promotional effort. Besides, she's an artist who's been around for a while now.

[blackcauldron85]

What Do The Original ‘Lion King’ Animators Think Of The Remake?
https://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/us_5d40 ... 82714a/amp

[Kyle]

They left out some, namely Aaron Blaise.

Every artist I've known in the film industry works just as hard on every film they are a part of. Before you go on social media and start slamming films like the new Lion King, remember, hundreds of people put years of effort and hard work into the making of that film. Many of them will be reading your dismissive comment.
"But they're messing with my childhood!"...No...no they're not.

It kinda disappoints me to hear him say this, but my guess is maybe he's just playing nice in case Disney wants to hire him again. He has said he wants to do another feature again, he probably hopes Disney will call him up at some point and doesn't want to ruffle feathers.

I hear the Bancroft brothers have been outspoken (negatively) on this too, but since they comment via their podcast its harder to track down their comments.

[estefan]

They left out some, namely Aaron Blaise.

Every artist I've known in the film industry works just as hard on every film they are a part of. Before you go on social media and start slamming films like the new Lion King, remember, hundreds of people put years of effort and hard work into the making of that film. Many of them will be reading your dismissive comment.
"But they're messing with my childhood!"...No...no they're not.

It kinda disappoints me to hear him say this, but my guess is maybe he's just playing nice in case Disney wants to hire him again. He has said he wants to do another feature again, he probably hopes Disney will call him up at some point and doesn't want to ruffle feathers.

Why is it disappointing? I agree with him. There's nothing wrong with criticising the new "Lion King" (I certainly had my fair share of problems with it, too), but people don't think about the amount of hard work and effort that went into it before tearing into it.

One word that has been frequently thrown around is "soulless." I think Jon Favreau has a lot of respect and admiration for the original film, almost to the remake's detriment, and clearly put a lot of passion and love into this version. The animators also put in an incredible amount of effort to capture the intended photo-realism. It's not to everyone's tastes, but to say it's "soulless" and that they put "no effort into it" is incredibly insulting and disrespectful, considering the three years they spent putting this entire experiment together.

[Disney Duster]

I haven't seen the film yet, but sometimes soulless refers to how the film feels empty. Even if people put a lot of fashiomn and heart and, well, soul into something, it can still turn out to be what many people find to be soulless. I have found every Disney remake to be soulless. Soulless was how I would describe the feeling I got from the films. Yes, even my favorite one that I still think has emotion, Cinderella, still feels soulless to me.

[Sotiris]

Even the remakes I enjoy, I find them soulless to varying degrees. It's difficult to explain why exactly. They're like zombies or ghostly doppelgängers of the real thing. They're always off in some way, they never look 100% right, and while most of them are similar to the originals on paper, they fail to capture the intended energy, mood, or feeling. With the remakes I never feel fully satisfied or fulfilled after I finish watching them. They always leave something to be desired.

[Disney Duster]

Well said, Sotiris.

[Disney's Divinity]

They left out some, namely Aaron Blaise.

Every artist I've known in the film industry works just as hard on every film they are a part of. Before you go on social media and start slamming films like the new Lion King, remember, hundreds of people put years of effort and hard work into the making of that film. Many of them will be reading your dismissive comment.
"But they're messing with my childhood!"...No...no they're not.

It kinda disappoints me to hear him say this, but my guess is maybe he's just playing nice in case Disney wants to hire him again.

I hate this mentality that you can't criticize something because "people worked hard and long to make this *insert tears here*." I guess if you ate a nasty burger at a fast food restaurant, you shouldn't complain because the employees work "long and hard" all day regardless of the fact that they burned your meal or served you cold fries. People are PAID to do their JOBS in any industry. This isn't some charity or passion project where people are doing things for free because they love it so much. Give me a break.

[nomad2010]

They left out some, namely Aaron Blaise. It kinda disappoints me to hear him say this, but my guess is maybe he's just playing nice in case Disney wants to hire him again.

I hate this mentality that you can't criticize something because "people worked hard and long to make this *insert tears here*." I guess if you ate a nasty burger at a fast food restaurant, you shouldn't complain because the employees work "long and hard" all day regardless of the fact that they burned your meal or served you cold fries. People are PAID to do their JOBS in any industry. This isn't some charity or passion project where people are doing things for free because they love it so much. Give me a break.

Exactly. It’s art. It’s made to be interpreted and criticized, and everyone can have their opinion. What’s silly to me about this especially is that all these artists work was specifically ripped off with no compensation for them. It’s be different if they redesigned Pride Rock, did completely different shots, staged it in its own way. It could’ve been cool and refreshing. But no. They literally shot for shot recreated it. No different than Andy Warhol screenprinting a photo and changing the colors. Some people see it as art, others see it as a rip off of another’s art and see no artistic integrity in it.

[D82]

New featurettes:
- "The Music of The Lion King"
- "Timon and Pumbaa"
- "Protect the Pride"

Promos:
- https://twitter.com/disneylionking/stat ... 7008227328
- https://twitter.com/disneylionking/stat ... 2117359617
- https://twitter.com/disneylionking/stat ... 7804591104

And videos about the technology used for making the movie:
- VFX Breakdown | CGI Character and Environment by MPC: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SjSNunxgWKE
- Breaking Ground with Virtual Production: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=shD-dQ1yPdk
- Visiting Kenya and Building the Pridelands: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jf-wjwKXpgE
- Innovating and Carrying the Vision Through to the End: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tc_miWQO2rE
- MPC Reference Shoot in Kenya: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-MnDUR9b0fw

[Sotiris]

The Lion King has become not only the highest-grossing Disney remake at the global box office but (ironically) the highest-grossing animated feature as well. Will Frozen 2 be able to regain the title?

[Disney Duster]

Omg that's hilarious.

[unprincess]

^I guess now they don't mind that its being called an animated film huh?

so I saw it this weekend and I really wanted to hate it. I went there ready to despise this thing and even saw the original that week to refresh myself.

Well... I liked it. I mean... I... yeah, I dunno if its that its a story that I already love that made me predisposed to like it already or that I just like animals(as with the LA Jungle Book I really enjoyed the different species presented, especially the more obscure ones like the duiker and bat eared fox that lived in Timon & Pumbaa's jungle.) I enjoyed the new interpretation of the original music(could have done without the Beyonce song, would have preferred stuff from the musical.) What I enjoyed best was the stuff that was changed with more expanded dialogue/scenes like Simba's first meeting with Scar on the cliff, the IJCWTBK scene, and all the hyena's stuff. OTOH, COL was cool but it kept bothering me how precisely exact the whole sequence was in copying the original, right down to the lens change in focus b/w the ants and the zebras scene, I mean, geez. I wish there had been more changes, not in the story structure but in some of the dialogue and the way scenes were presented, made it more interesting I felt, like I wasn't just watching a photo-real straight copy of the original. I found the voice work mostly fine except Beyonce who was flat. I didn't mind Scar, again I liked that the actors take was different, though Be Prepared SUCKED, wow that was bad! Loved Shenzi, I like how menacing and authoritative she was, but I wish they had explained more about the hyenas past with the lions(that war she mentioned) and once again, like the original there is no explanation about what happened to the hyenas after the battle. Would've liked that expended on as well. I still would have liked a little more color and creative whimsy in the cinematography too, the best stuff is taken straight from of the original.
So LA Lion King sequel= Simba's Pride or will they do their own thing?

[Hardbackyoyo]

Someone said this about the Lion King remake:

"When the movie ended and everyone started clapping, I never had such contempt for moviegoers until that moment. I immediately hated everyone there. They clapped for that soulless corporate cash grab of a movie. These people are everything wrong with capitalism. It's been proven time and time again that the vast majority of movie goers will gladly consume any shallow s*** you give them. How else do you explain Transformers and Twilight becoming big blockbusters?"

Kind of overdramatic, isn't it? Does whether people go see a movie or not REALLY define the state of our society?

[Disney's Divinity]

Someone said this about the Lion King remake:

"When the movie ended and everyone started clapping, I never had such contempt for moviegoers until that moment. I immediately hated everyone there. They clapped for that soulless corporate cash grab of a movie. These people are everything wrong with capitalism. It's been proven time and time again that the vast majority of movie goers will gladly consume any shallow s*** you give them. How else do you explain Transformers and Twilight becoming big blockbusters?"

Kind of overdramatic, isn't it? Does whether people go see a movie or not REALLY define the state of our society?

Well, as this person said, this isn't new, and I'm sure TLK "live-action" is much better than Transformers at least. Anyway, the Disney remakes have begun causing histrionics in general. That's how you get a 30-40% critic rating and a 90-95% audience rating for the same movie--because the critics aren't being honest about what they watched, they're just venting their frustrations over the existence of remakes in general. Whereas moviegoers don't care about anything except whether or not a film looks like it could be a fun hour and a half.

[Kyle]

Transformers was solid entertainment, If you wanna bash on the sequels be my guest, but I'd watch transformers over this remake anyday.It wasnt trying to be anything it wasnt, you watch it for the spectral more than the writing and acting. It accomplished what it seemed to be setting out to do. Lion King, not so much, unless you count "making butloads of money" as its only goal.

[D82]

"Never Too Late" official lyric video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6KNZIdD0_Y

The Lion King has become not only the highest-grossing Disney remake at the global box office but (ironically) the highest-grossing animated feature as well. Will Frozen 2 be able to regain the title?

I hadn't realized it could become the highest-grossing animated film. The original Lion King had that same record for several years, if Frozen 2 doesn't beat it at the box office, maybe story will repeat itself with the remake.

[ProfessorRatigan]

Finally got around to seeing it. Wow, was Be Prepared a let-down.

I can't help but feel that Disney has a villain problem the way Pixar has one or Marvel used to get heavily criticized for. the ironic thing is that all those weak and subpar villains were compared to the classic Disney villains but the new ones have not been memorable at all. It's not just the animated villains from the new movies but even the new versions of classic villains in the live-action remakes. Maleficent was completely sanitized and holds no resemblance to the original character beyond her name. Jafar was boring and had no screen presence and this new Scar pretty much falls in the same boat. Even Luke Evans' Gaston, although I loved his performance, felt off because of the writing of the character. He comes across as likable in the beginning and even eager to please Belle by showcasing an interest in her books (making Emma Watson's Belle look like the jerk) only to suddenly punch Maurice later on and leave him for dead. Such as a drastic turn didn't work at all and I can't help but feel that Disney feels they can't get away with the villains they used to make for whatever reason and thus feels the need to neuter them.

This. You've basically taken what I've been saying to my friends since the live-action Aladdin came out. Disney, once again, doesn't seem to understand the importance their Classic Villains have played in these films' legacies. If Melissa McCarthy is cast as Ursula, I fully expect them to f**k that character up, too. It's pretty f**king sad that this film devoted more time to showing us how Simba's hair got pooped out by a giraffe to float on the wind to Rafiki than it did to Be Prepared. What. The. Hell.

All this being said... I loved this film's Zazu. Seriously, he was the stand out for me.