Nobody’s in the mood to talk about the holidays since we’re just about to start May and the summer blockbuster season in North America but there is a movie coming out for the holiday season that’s expected to be a huge blockbuster and the first trailer dropped today. Mufasa: The Lion King is I think at this point pretty self-explanatory since by now most of know the story of The Lion King and who Mufasa was. This is his origin story, directed by Oscar winner Barry Jenkins, with original music written by Lin-Manuel Miranda.
In the movie, Mufasa’s legend will be told by Rafiki to Kiara, the daughter of Simba and Nala, with Timon and Pumbaa chiming in. According to the press release, “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 work together to evade a threatening and deadly foe”.
It's not that I’m not excited for this, I am, but I don’t think I’ll ever not be traumatised by the original story and what happened to Mufasa. That scene is SO sad that there are even videos online of dogs that start wailing when they watch it. And now, with this new tale of young Mufasa on the come-up, presumably being mentored by Taka… well…
What do we think is going to happen to Taka for Mufasa to eventually become the Lion King? We’re already being told that Taka is an heir but since he’s not the one we know on top of Mount Kilimanjaro, obviously some sh-t goes down, in other words they’re going to rip our hearts out again! They’re going to f-ck us up and make billions of dollars in the process. The 2019 movie, directed by Jon Favreau, brought in close to two billion dollars. You can see why they wanted to continue with this IP so, again, Mufasa is going to be a big deal at the holidays.
There’s more than enough time in the months ahead to talk about this and Sarah will handle it – for now, though, let’s discuss the movie credits:
“Introducing Blue Ivy Carter with Beyoncé Knowles Carter”… I mean we should expect nothing less. That Beyoncé’s team negotiated that credit on behalf of the Simba of their own empire. Blue is playing Kiara with Beyoncé reprising her role as Nala. Mother and daughter sharing a title card is a big deal. You will note they are the only cast members who get their own page. A flex, of course.
Of working with both Beyoncé and Blue, Barry Jenkins told GMA today that:
"Beyoncé is this larger-than-life figure, but when she's working with her daughter, when she's in the room with her daughter, she's a mom first. So much of that energy bled into the film."
But now I am so curious about what this will look like during promotion. Does Blue participate in the junket? Young stars of Disney films often do – but not all young stars are the child of the greatest living entertainer of her time who, as we know, maintains a healthy distance.
Beyoncé didn’t even walk the carpet for The Lion King 2019 when there was anyone else on it, lol. What will we see this time around?
