It is time! Well, almost. Disney dropped a bomb this morning with a new trailer for its upcoming remake of The Lion King.
It’s got a lot of new footage and a few surprises… take a look below!
Also of note are first-ever looks at some of the characters who were kept out of previous trailers, including Scar (voiced by Chiwetel Ejiofor), the hyenas (Florence Kasumba, Eric Andre, and Keegan-Michael Key), Zazu (John Oliver), Nala (Beyonce Knowles-Carter), Timon (Billy Eichner), and Pumbaa (Seth Rogen).
Rounding out the cast of characters already shown elsewhere or not yet shown include Donald Glover as Simba, Alfre Woodard as Sarabi, John Kani as Rafiki, and James Earl Jones as Mufasa.
We also hear some of the powerful score from the award-winning soundtrack, again composed in the remake by Hans Zimmer just as it was in the original. If you keep your ears peeled, you can hear a few (very, very) slight differences in the arrangements.
Disney’s strategy with its remakes has been a bit all over the map, with some, like 2017’s Beauty and the Beast, being pretty loyal to their roots, while others, like last month’s Dumbo, making some more drastic changes. Though it could be misleading, this new Lion King trailer seems to depict a relatively straightforward adaptation of the 1994 film, with little deviation of story to the point of even the trailer shows the plot in chronological order.
The Lion King hits theaters July 19, 2019.