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Latest trailer for Disney's Lion King remake delivers on Scar, Pumbaa, Nala, and more
Hakuna Matata, indeed. This morning, Disney dropped the official trailer for Jon Favreau's photorealistic remake of 1994's The Lion King, and this one gives us the best footage yet. Where the last two teasers sought to highlight the general look of the film, this one gives a good look at the main characters in action and how the A-list voice cast was incorporated into the final CGI.
In particular, it's Chiwetel Ejiofor's Scar who dominates the start of the trailer, talking about the unfairness of life as we see young Simba (JD McCrary) and Nala (Shahadi Wright Joseph) exploring the hyena-infested elephant graveyard just as they did in the original.
"While some are born to feast, others spend their lives in the dark, begging for scraps," he says as the hyenas (voiced by Eric Andre, Florence Kasumba, and Keegan-Michael Key) close in on the two lion cubs.
Watch the new trailer now:
With that ominous introduction, the teaser switches to a more hopeful note with Mufasa (James Earl Jones) teaching his son about the delicate balance of life: "While others search for what they can take, a true king searches for what he can give."
Sadly, that upbeat attitude is short-lived, because then we transition to that fateful wildebeest stampede where Mufasa is killed and Scar banishes Simba from the Pride Lands. This chain of events leads him to be adopted by meerkat Timon (Billy Eichner) and warthog Pumbaa (Seth Rogen), and you just know we had to get a look at the iconic time lapse of all three of them growing older together. The adult version of Simba is voiced by actor/comedian/rapper Donald Glover.
With all of this set to Hans Zimmer's epic score from the original film, the new trailer is actually perfect. And just to top things off, we close out with Timon riding on Pumbaa's back as they sing "Hakuna Matata" together. It don't get better than that, folks.
Beyoncé (adult Nala), Alfre Woodard (Sarabi), John Kani (Rafiki), John Oliver (Zazu), and Amy Sedaris (an unnamed elephant shrew) make up the rest of the ensemble cast.
Written by Jeff Nathanson (Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull), The Lion King roars into theaters July 19.
