The Lion King (Live-Action)

[HereWeGo]

This summer truly belongs to Disney. It's like the other studios aren't even trying.

 

[Mad Dog]

Disney came, they saw, they conquered.

 

[Nick]

This summer truly belongs to Disney. It's like the other studios aren't even trying.

And Disney still has a lot to look forward to with at least two more billion dollar films this year with Rise of the Skywalker and Frozen 2 with Maleficent 2 probably coming in the $800-$900M range.

That’s not even mentioning potential Awards candidates in Ad Astra and Ford v. Ferrari.

 

[Brian G.]

So, there's some leaked footage out there of the "Long Live the King" moment. Not gonna' post any links for obvious reasons, but I do wanna' say this...

In the original, that is probably one of the most dramatic parts of the film. It hit's hard.
Now for the CGI version? Well for this one, the line delivery is nowhere near as good, it's actually shockingly dull. There's no sinister edge whatsoever to the line. But that's nothing compared to what happens next...

Definite spoilers below on this scene...

Spoiler

Scar doesn't throw Mufasa off the cliff, instead he literally baps Mufasa's nose and he falls. I'm not kidding, it's literally death by nose boop. An James Earl Jones's scream is literally something out of a Star Wars edit done by George Lucas. An that's followed by a ridiculous dolly shot from Simba who's looks more like he's yawning than screaming because they gotta' make it look like real lions than ones that can really emote.

Total exaggeration. It was a little more than a boop. He did everything the same as the cartoon and then swiped him across the face.

 

[TheGentTrent]

And Disney still has a lot to look forward to with at least two more billion dollar films this year with Rise of the Skywalker and Frozen 2 with Maleficent 2 probably coming in the $800-$900M range.

That’s not even mentioning potential Awards candidates in Ad Astra and Ford v. Ferrari.

I'm expecting Maleficent to do maybe $500 million tops. The first film hasn't really aged well (I find it very telling that it plays more on Universal-owned Syfy rather than Disney-owned Freeform) and the last time Disney did a live-action sequel (Alice), it didn't do so well.

 

[Nick]

I'm expecting Maleficent to do maybe $500 million tops. The first film hasn't really aged well (I find it very telling that it plays more on Universal-owned Syfy rather than Disney-owned Freeform) and the last time Disney did a live-action sequel (Alice), it didn't do so well.

It has the chance for extremely long legs like Aladdin has had though with it's opening weekend being at the beginning of November. If received well (Unlike The Lion King and Aladdin, I think a film like Maleficent may actually need good reviews to see bigger box office), this is a movie that could play into January.

To bounce back quickly on how dominant Disney has been at the Box Office, this gives you an idea:

Count the 3.9% from Fox and Disney has 38.2% of the market share this year and they're still the only studio that has cracked $1B domestically.

 

[Tobias]

Total exaggeration. It was a little more than a boop. He did everything the same as the cartoon and then swiped him across the face.

I know the intent was to make it look like a swipe, and if it came off that way, I'd be fine with it. But unfortunately with the editing, when it cuts to Mufasa getting hit, you just see what looks like a tap to his snout akin to what I've seen house cats do to each other. Hence why I call it a nose boop, it doesn't register as a big hit. An because of that, it comes off unintentionally funny.

 

[HalfGlass]

I never thought it after the initial trailers, but I thought Aladdin was far and away the better film here. For two main reasons...

1) While it followed most of the animated film's beats, it did add new characters and tried some new things with the Genie, Jafar, etc. Not all worked, but most did IMO. The Lion King followed almost every scene identically, with some dialogue and exchanges staying exactly the same. It felt less impactful due to the familiarity.

2) Many reviews state this...but by going the photo-realistic approach with the animals, they cannot emote like the characters in the original film could. So scenes like Mufasa's death ring a bit hollow, as Simba has his crying voice on, but no tears or facial expressions show his sorrow.

Don't get me wrong, TLK has some of the best CGI I've seen in a movie...EVER. And, it was a nice trip down memory lane. But, it sadly didn't live up to the expectations of the spectacular trailers.

 

[Brian G.]

I know the intent was to make it look like a swipe, and if it came off that way, I'd be fine with it. But unfortunately with the editing, when it cuts to Mufasa getting hit, you just see what looks like a tap to his snout akin to what I've seen house cats do to each other. Hence why I call it a nose boop, it doesn't register as a big hit. An because of that, it comes off unintentionally funny.

Yeah - I still don't agree. I have problems with the film, but this one isn't it.

 

[Nick]

The weekend actuals put the film at a higher opening than expected and passed Age of Ultron to claim 8th highest opening of all-time.

 

[ChristopherSE]

This movie has the most impressive animation I’ve ever seen. And they did nothing with it. It just didn’t have a perspective or reason to exist.

Timon and Pumbaa are the standouts. They were hysterical, though their meta jokes undermine all that hyper-realism the film strives for.

 

[Nick]

This movie has the most impressive animation I’ve ever seen. And they did nothing with it. It just didn’t have a perspective or reason to exist.

Timon and Pumbaa are the standouts. They were hysterical, though their meta jokes undermine all that hyper-realism the film strives for.

There’s a reason Seth Rogan and Billy Eichner were on the front lines marketing this movie. They’re the best part.

 

[yankees13]

It’s an impossible task to live up to the original Lion King. It’s easy to take a 50 year old movie like the Jungle Book and improve upon it. Lion King didn’t need such treatment. I haven’t seen it yet. But for whatever reason I just kind of soured on the movie after initially seeing the first trailer. Maybe I’ll like it. Who knows. I think I’m just over these live action remakes

 

[Brian G.]

As far as my review:

It's fine. It's still the Lion King. The problem is that it's essentially a shot for shot remake for most of the film and doesn't expand upon on the story to make it feel fresh. Most of the new stuff came from the comedy (Timon, Pumbaa, and Zazu), and I'll go as far as saying Eichner's vocal performance is an ALL-TIME role (akin to Williams with Genie). Ejiofar did a damn great job as Scar as well. Surprising that with the film mostly being replicated, they turned Be Prepared into a simple slam poem....

Graphics were phenomenal, but as everyone has stated - the lack of emotions the animals can express makes it awkward at times.

If this was a brand-new film, I'd say 9/10 - but because it's the Lion King, it's 7/10 but with an asterisk (as it's only that high because it's essentially the same film with new tech).

 

[Imperius]

I enjoyed it, but man I did not like the cub voices. Timon and Pumbaa were the best parts.

 

[Nick]

LK is already pretty much at $1B. At the current pace, I’m expecting it to finish around $1.3-$1.4B or so as it’s pacing ahead of the live-action BatB.

 

[TheGentTrent]

LK is already pretty much at $1B. At the current pace, I’m expecting it to finish around $1.3-$1.4B or so as it’s pacing ahead of the live-action BatB.

Which would make a bit of a full circle as the original was the highest grossing animated movie of all time and now the remake will take that title from Frozen.

 

[Nick]