^Yes, it has. Elton John specifically said to
The Sun that there will be four songs from the original film and listed the songs by name. No way could he forget "Be Prepared", but if he even did forget, surely he would have clarified by now. So, in the end, you could be right since circumstances about Hollywood films, more often than not, divert from what's initially reported, but for now, I'll take Elton's word.
[quote="
Comicbook.com"]"They need to have a new end credits song," said John. "There's going to be four of our songs in the film, from the original: 'Can You Feel The Love Tonight?' 'Hakuna Matata,' 'I Just Can’t Wait To Be King,' and 'Circle of Life'. And then there will be an end, closing song, and we've been speaking to Beyoncé's people and hopefully Tim and I and her can cook up something. That’s going out in 2019 as well. And it will be great to work with her. So we will see."[/quote]
And Goth, we have had multiple discussions about the exclusion of "Be Prepared" like
this thread and we discussed it in the
remake thread. Heck, you even commented in the former. If it's true, I suppose the song was cut to probably make Scar a more sympathetic villain. Another theory suggested by Panpardus is that a lion and hyenas singing and dancing around volcanic eruption and tectonic activity doesn't translate well into realism, but surely they keep the song and stage it more realistically.