The first trailer for Disney’s Mufasa: The Lion King was released this week, and as expected, there was a bit of a backlash.
The film comes from Academy Award and Independent Spirit Award-winning filmmaker Barry Jenkins, and fans are upset that he sold out to make a Disney movie, that he is too talented to stoop to making a Disney movie.
One user on X, Krystian who has “fire David Zaslav” and “Release Coyote vs. Acme” in their bio, said: “Barry, You’re too good and talented for this Iger’s soulless machine.” Jenkins responded by defending the artistic merits of The Lion King.
The filmmaker said: “There is nothing soulless about The Lion King. For decades children have sat in theaters all over the world experiencing collective grief for the first time, engaging Shakespeare for the first time, across aisles in myriad languages. A most potent vessel for communal empathy.”
Another entertainment writer Q. Anthony Ali then chimed in an claimed that “I interviewed you when you premiered Moonlight at TIFF, and that Barry Jenkins wouldn’t have said what you just said.”
He added: “You can do a Disney movie for the check, in order to work on your passion projects at a later time, but you don’t have to shill like this.”
Jenkins responded by sharing a number of kid-centric projects he had made and posted online around the time he was working on Moonlight. All of them were linked to one common thread: “Children have figured prominently in every single one of the projects from Moonlight til’ now without exception.”
Ali went on to argue that “Disney represents the capture of creative expression by finance-driven corporate interests, and it exists to fence children’s imaginations behind a paywall.”
Jenkins pretty much shut the conversation down there and told Ali that he was “going back to work.”
Mufasa: The Lion King “enlists Rafiki to relay the legend of Mufasa to young lion cub Kiara, daughter of Simba and Nala, with Timon and Pumbaa lending their signature schtick.
“Told in flashbacks, the story introduces Mufasa as an orphaned cub, lost and alone until he meets a sympathetic lion named Taka—the heir to a royal bloodline.
“The chance meeting sets in motion an expansive journey of an extraordinary group of misfits searching for their destiny — their bonds will be tested as they must work together to evade a threatening and deadly foe.”
The voice cast for the film includes Aaron Pierre as Mufasa, Kelvin Harrison Jr. as Taka, Seth Rogen as Pumbaa, Billy Eichner as Timon, John Kani as Rafiki.
The rest of the ensemble cast includes Tiffany Boone, Kagiso Lediga, Preston Nyman, Thandiwe Newton, Mads Mikkelsen, Anika Noni Rose, Keith David, John Kani, Beyoncé Knowles-Carter as Nala, and introducing Blue Ivy Carter as Kiara, daughter of King Simba and Queen Nala.
The screenplay for the film was written by Jeff Nathanson, the same writer behind 2019’s The Lion King.
Walt Disney Pictures will release Mufasa: The Lion King in theaters on December 20th, 2024.
Joey Paur
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