Barry Jenkins to Direct "Lion King" Sequel for Disney
For better or worse, the Circle of Life continues in live action form for Disney.
Deadline Hollywood reports that the studio is moving forward with a sequel to last year’s live action remake of The Lion King. Considering that the film made a staggering $1.6 billion worldwide, it perhaps isn’t surprising to see Disney go back to the well again but perhaps the most shocking news out of all of this is the directing choice. Original helmer Jon Favreau will not be returning and instead the keys will be given to none other than Oscar winning filmmaker Barry Jenkins.
Yes the critically beloved auteur behind Moonlight and If Beale Street Could Talk is jumping in on the Disney live action game and being given what is by far the biggest budget of his career. This isn’t the only project that Jenkins has planned at Disney. He is also attached to direct a biopic on Alvin Ailey for the studio’s prestige Searchlight label. The busy filmmaker just wrapped shooting on Amazon’s limited series The Underground Railroad and has scripted two other features.
Jeff Nathanson, who penned the previous film, has recently turned in a draft for the sequel. Even though the plot line is being kept under wraps, the rumour is that it focus on the mythology of the characters from Pride Rock with a particular focus on Mufasa’s origin. It’s apparently Disney’s answer to The Godfather Part 2.
As you can tell from the tone of this article, I can’t say I am that enthusiastic about a live action Lion King sequel. Nearly all of the live action Disney remakes and sequels of their animated classics have been mediocre unambitious made by committee products just chucked out into theaters with the hopes of making a billion dollars but The Lion King was the most cynical and soulless of all of them as it simply was a beat by beat carbon copy of the original animated masterpiece but wooden voice acting that was simply made for both profit and to showcase photo realistic technology that sucked life out of the characters.
It is also somewhat curious to see Jenkins pick a project like this as his first foray into tentpole filmmaking as he probably will not be able to have his own vision on screen. I am personally all for him getting a chance at a big budget movie but I wish it was something less cynical and more imaginative than this. That being said, if he found something special in the script and it allows him to do more personal projects afterwards, who am I to judge?
We don’t have a timetable for production or even a set release date for The Lion King Sequel but we will continue to keep you posted if and when more details come out.
