Disney treated audiences to some second-helpings on Thanksgiving in the form of a teaser trailer for the highly anticipated live-action adaptation
The Lion King. A re-imagining of the classic 1994 classic — which is one of the highest-grossing animated films of all time with a lifetime global box office just shy of $1 billion — the Jon Favreau-directed blockbuster will bring Pride Rock to life with a mix of live-action and CGI effects. On Thursday, we got our first look at it.
While these sort of adaptations of childhood classics are sometimes met with skepticism, it seems the general audience is at least intrigued with what Disney and director Jon Favreau are doing - at least based on the record-breaking number of views the teaser trailer received. Disney took to its various social media channels to thank the "entire pride" for helping the teaser trailer for
The Lion King "become the most-viewed Disney trailer debut ever." It reached a whopping 224.6 million global views in 24 hours.
The announcement is actually a little misleading. Not to take away from the tremendous milestone, but
The Lion King is actually the second-biggest debut ever. It is second to another Disney film, as the first trailer for Marvel's
Avengers: Infinity War racked up over 230 million views in 24 hours. It's quite possible, however, that both of these records will be knocked down a peg when Marvel releases the first trailer for
Avengers 4, which is expected to arrive sometime before the end of the year.
Nevertheless, it's an incredible feat for
The Lion King which boasts a magnificent cast that includes James Earl Jones (Mufasa), Chiwetel Ejiofor (Scar), Alfre Woodard (Sarabi), John Oliver (Zazu), Donald Glover (Simba), and Beyonce (Nala). In case you missed the initial teaser, here it is again.
From Disney Live Action, director Jon Favreau’s all-new “The Lion King” journeys to the African savanna where a future king must overcome betrayal and tragedy to assume his rightful place on Pride Rock.
The Lion King is set to release on July 19, 2019. It's one of several major film releases from Disney in the upcoming year that includes Captain Marvel (March 8), Avengers 4 (May 3), Aladdin (May 24), Toy Story 4 (June 21), Frozen 2 (November 22), and Star Wars: Episode IX (December 20).