Disney drops new Lion King footage, gives Simba and Mufasa a royal new poster

Disney took advantage of the Academy Awards’ big stage Sunday to put one of its animal kingdom’s biggest stars in the spotlight, dropping a new TV trailer forThe Lion King while revealing an epically-scaled poster for the CGI-action remake on social media.

The trailer mostly recombines footage we’ve seen in The Lion King’s first clip from last November, which racked up a YouTube record for single-day views. The new “Long Live the King” clip is a wider shot of Simba’s coming out party atop Pride Rock, with the whole savannah turning out to celebrate Mufasa’s next in line:

The lines between CGI and live action, already a topic of much internet discussion following the first trailer’s reveal, definitely are blurring in director Jon Favreau’s remake. While it may be tough getting a real-life zebra to go all rampant on its hind legs like that, seeing it pulled off believably in CGI is almost as impressive.

Speaking of Mufasa, though, it’s The Lion King’s new poster that’s perhaps the most eye-catching. Disney’s first glimpse at what we’ll soon be seeing a whole lot more of in theater lobbies between now and this summer is a burnt-sky stunner, and it gives father and son some precious bonding time before young Simba (JD McCrary), as we know, is forced to face his fate alone:

Including Fox’s Oscars haul, Disney and Fox combined for 11 Academy Awards on Sunday — a critical score that must be ratifying Disney’s decision to spend all those dollars to absorb the creative power behind one of its former studio rivals. And with a Lion King cast that features McCrary, Donald Glover (adult Simba), Beyoncé (Nala), James Earl Jones (returning as Mufasa), Chiwetel Ejiofor (Scar), and tons more, it appears as though Disney’s lavishing the same kind of care on the remake — a fact it stressed late last year, promising the rebooted version will be more than just a shot-by-shot walkthrough of the 1994 animated original.

We’re still a few months off from the movie’s summer release, but no worries — it’ll be here before you know it. The Lion King roars into theaters on July 19.