Lion King 2019 trailer: First look at Disney remake with Beyonce and Donald Glover

The film features a star studded cast 
Emma Powell23 November 2018
The Weekender

Sign up to our free weekly newsletter for exclusive competitions, offers and theatre ticket deals

I would like to be emailed about offers, event and updates from Evening Standard. Read our privacy notice.

Prepare to be overcome with nostalgia - Disney has dropped the first trailer for the hotly anticipated Lion King live action remake.

The 1994 animated classic has been reimagined with a star studded voice cast featuring Donald Glover, who plays Simba, Beyoncé as his love interest Nala and Billy Eichner and Seth Rogen as loveable duo Timon and Pumba.

Narrated by James Earl Jones – who is reprising his role as Mufasa – the first look features the iconic moment baby Simba is held up above the African plains.

“Everything the light touches is our kingdom,” Jones says. “But a King’s time as ruler rises and falls like the sun. One day the sun will set on my time here and will rise with you as the new king.”

Iconic: Simba is King
Disney

Directed by Jon Favreau, the film also stars Chiwetel Ejiofor, John Olive and Keegan-Michael Key.

Starring role: Beyonce voices Nala in the remake 
Getty Images

Speaking about the film, Favreau – who directed the Jungle Book remake – said: “It is a director’s dream to assemble a talented team like this to bring this classic story to life.”

Acclaimed composer Hans Zimmer has returned to score the film which will feature four hits from the Disney classic: Can You Feel the Love Tonight, Hakuna Matata, I Just Can't Wait to Be King and Circle of Life.

Sir Elton John, who won the Best Original Song Oscar for Can You Feel the Love Tonight in 1994, confirmed he has teamed up with Tim Rice and Beyoncé to create a new song for the end credits of the film.

Disney’s Lion King was released in 1994 and went on to become one of the highest-grossing animated films of all time, raking in $968.5 million worldwide.

The Lion King is slated for release on July 19, 2019

The best Disney Pixar movies ever made

1/10

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in