Trailer has been dropped!

[Sigurd]

Judging by the trailer it looks good, but the shots and the lines seemed almost identical which is annoying. But who knows, maybe they change it in the movie.

[Gaze]

re: Flip’s post, has there been official confirmation that it’s indeed a shot for shot remake? I was under the impression that the teaser trailer is specifically designed to invoke nostalgia, which is why it appears that way (plus some extremely iconic scenes like CoL could never be modified), but there’s still potential for new scenes, characters, etc to be added in. all I really have to go off here is the Jungle Book remake, which had some interesting and darker plot details added, and while JB is nowhere near as well loved as TLK I still don’t think it seems out of the question for the TLK remake to go in a similar direction (unless some official statement has been made saying otherwise in which case, ignore me haha)

I love TLK (a lot) but I do think it’s an imperfect movie (most are), which is why I’m excited at the idea of a slightly tweaked version of the story. I don’t feel excited at the idea of a shot-for-shot remake because I don’t feel that a drastic change in animation style is enough to justify remaking an already very good film that was originally animated in such a beautiful, appealing toony style. that’s just how I feel and I don’t think anyone is wrong for disagreeing.

I agree that something being a ‘cash grab’ doesn’t automatically make it bad. the reality of filmmaking being a business (and the reality of Disney being one of the biggest media companies on the planet) means that everything is a cash grab, to some extent. personally I love TLKII and am even pretty fond of TLK 1 1/2 which both fall within the ‘cash grab’ realm. all these live action/CGI remakes are certainly being made because Disney knows they can keep profiting off the successes of their past, but that hasn’t stopped the filmmakers from taking the opportunity to make a film that is more than just a “reskin” of its first incarnation, and I do hope TLK will be no different.

but if it is indeed a shot for shot remake, that’s fine, I’m not upset. if I dislike the final film I can express my dislike and what I would have wanted to see, but that doesn’t mean anyone is wrong for disagreeing, and my opinion shouldn’t impact anyone’s enjoyment of the film.

Ok let me ask you this from someone who studies nature and watches alot of Wildlife television. Do you love Africa? do you watch raw nature shows, if you did you shouldnt be complaining at all, This is the real life version of Africa, the real life raw nature people, this is NOT cartooned! the colors in nature are dull, we dont live in a cartooned world. This is how Africa looks, nature isnt perfect, thats how Mother nature intended it to be, those brighter cartoon colors are more for the young viewers this is the grown up version now. get with the new technology. The old drawing animation is dead.

uhh I’m sorry but please calm down a lil.... I’m allowed to not love it and to critique it. I think that the real world is full of vibrant color and beauty and I don’t think a washed out color pallette is necessary to convey realism. it doesn’t need to have the same level of stylization as a traditionally animated film to be colorful and lively. like I said before, I don’t see the appeal of hyperrealism if it means sacrificing more appealing design choices. I think it’s cooler to see a mixture of hyperrealism and stylization (the Guardians of Ga’hoole movie being a good example of that). that’s just my opinion and I know lots of people feel that the visual style of the trailer is beautiful as-is.

as for “getting with the new technology” I’ll always, always feel that traditional hand-drawn animation is the most beautiful art form, but that doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate and respect the hard work and skill that goes into other forms of animation. hyperrealistic CGI, generally speaking, is just not for me. I’m not trying to rain on anyone else’s parade by feeling that way and I’m glad people are excited about it. when TLG came out I got the closest possible thing to my dream-come-true addition to the TLK franchise, and if this remake is that dream-come-true for you or anyone else, I think that’s awesome. I already got what I wanted and it’s not the end of the world just because I don’t like the way this brief little trailer looks.

hell, one of my biggest hopes for the remake is that it’ll expand upon TLK’s darker themes, so maybe the darker color pallette will actually end up being a reflection of that. time will tell.... like I said, I’m not deciding my final opinion of the remake based on one teaser trailer.

I’m disappointed to be feeling a lil bit of hostility for not being thrilled about the trailer. if we can’t criticize the output of a gigantic media corporation, what can we criticize? I promise I’m not totally closing my mind off about this film and I promise I don’t think you have the Wrong Opinion if you love the trailer! I’ll be there in the theater opening night no matter how I feel about the art style.

[Julia P]

I'm super excited for the remake. I've watched the trailer over and over. It's the best CGI I've ever seen and it sounded like the music was remastered and enhanced. The whole thing just seemed very epic to me. I believe we're going to feel all the emotions and nostalgia, despite the differences in animation and some probable changes. I've been counting down the days for years. Just a little more to go....

And I have a question...does anyone know if there will be any scenes where it actually IS real footage and not just CGI? Like landscapes and the like.

Also, I think it would've been cool to release it in June instead of July, on the exact 25th anniversary date of the original!

I just can't wait!

[DGFone]

Strictly speaking, I doubt that actual film cameras were ever used for anything that will appear in the final movie. It's all done on computers, and based on what I have seen in the trailer, it's all CGI. Very pretty CGI, but CGI never the less. Ironically enough, considering what was mentioned earlier in this topic, one of the best ways you can tell that it's not real is that the colors are too vibrant and varied - real life is far less colorful. Remember - lions look as they do in order to blend in with the savanna around them. You are not supposed to see them stick out like a sore thumb as in the trailer: that's artistic licence in order to remain more faithful to the original hand drawn artwork.

Personally, while I think that the CGI is good quality and technically well done, I doubt it will ever get even close to the charm of the 2D hand drawn artwork of the original.

Now, as for the soundtrack, even from the bit we heard in the trailer, I am allowing myself to get a little excited over that. Again, I doubt it will hold up compared to the original, which has 25 years of nostalgia going for it, but as long as the songs don't get ruined, they and the score have a very strong potential to be worthy remakes.

[Panpardus]

I'm actually a little disappointed in the music, since it's very clearly just the original track from 25 years ago with some added typical trailer music around it. (It also tells me that they probably haven't finished much of the soundtrack or score yet.) That's part of why I'm not too sure about how much the underscore is really going to pop relative to the original, since I imagine it's just going to be rearrangements using all the old themes and motifs, and I doubt Zimmer is going to write much new music for this if at all.

Speaking of sounds, I really hope they can get rid of the sound stage problem; in The Jungle Book the animals' voices didn't sound like they were coming from the characters standing in the environment themselves, but rather you could tell that they were voices in a recording booth. The sounds weren't mixed well enough to make them sound like they were actually standing x distance away in a field or something. Not sure if it was rushed production or technical limitations, or maybe it's just something I picked up on my headphones as I watched the movie and this problem was imperceptible in the theaters, but I'd like to not hear that regardless. I actually found it way more immersion breaking than anything visual.

On that note, as I understand it based on an article and a behind-the-scenes video from The Jungle Book -- https://youtu.be/-0MD1g_5dV4?t=180 -- the environments we're seeing are entirely CGI, presumably using actual photographs of real locations in Tanzania and Kenya as reference points for the landscapes and environment assets (plants, rocks, etc.). I'm not sure how they're going to interpret Timon and Pumbaa's jungle home, but otherwise I imagine they have an easier job here than they did with The Jungle Book since there's more open space and less varied vegetation and landscapes; I wonder if that's part of why it looks better, just by virtue of having less to work with. Otherwise, the only real difference I'm aware of in the production process is that The Lion King is using VR technology that allows the director to actually move around in the environment and block how he wants the framing of certain shots. To me, this is squarely in that happy medium between the cartoon and real life insofar as coloration goes; it's muted enough to look real but also colorful enough in the right spots/shots to sell its own sort of visual stylization.

[Julia P]

Panpardus,

I like what you said in paragraph 2; that's a good point! I hope they do a good job with that.

[SimbasGuard]

Like as has been stated by others in this thread. This Remake being CGI is not reason enough to even do a remake. I am positive that there will be things added to this movie. I was so fixated that the rating would go from G to PG that I did not even consider that the run-time would go from 1h30m to 2h. Perhaps Nala's Father will get more of a mention that he did in The Lion Guard. Perhaps Sarafina will get more than one line. Perhaps Sarafina's name will actually be mentioned in the movie. Credit cookies are becoming a pretty much a Disney thing. Will there be one in this remake

As for this Remake being a Grown-Up version of the original. My view is this: I know animation has the reputation of being a medium that is for children. I also know that most animated shows are aimed at children. However The Lion King has always worked on a very Adult level for me. Granted it is the first animated movie that I saw as an Adult, but there was nothing in the movie that made me feel as if I was too old to enjoy it. For that reason I will/do not consider this upcoming remake the Grown Up version of The Lion King. I also doubt that even if Disney does take a darker turn with the remake I doubt they will do anything that would keep kids from wanting (or being able to) to see this movie.

[Elton John]

the lion king was already a grown up movie. or should I say that it’s a movie for a wide variety of ages, kids as well as adults.

You don’t win multiple oscars, or get put on top 100 lists by various top critics around the world, etc by being a movie that’s just for kids.

[DGFone]

If anything, I doubt that the remake can be that much darker than the original because then Disney will risk money from the younger audience. Sure, there will never be the same impact of the original when they showed on screen Mufasa's death, since that was done already. Sure, this sounds redundant, but remember that a lot of the impact in the original was that it was an unwritten rule that you simply can't do that in an animated film, let alone by Disney.

While the general tone of The Lion King is still rather lighthearted - it has songs, jokes, and is an all round colorful and cheerful movie, it deals with some very heavy issues that even movies today tend to avoid, despite the knowledge now that dealing with such things has been done before, and more importantly, has been done well and can be profitable.

As an example: While I enjoyed Zootopia very much, I just can't help but feel like Nick's 'trauma' with the muzzle was something that would form a memory of a bad day at worst, not some lifelong turn-to-evil type of deal-because-others-can't-be-trusted deal that it was portrayed as in the movie.

Simba went through something much worse and came out all right. Perhaps it's because even after exile he stumbled into new 'parents' that while not very good, cared for him when he needed it.

[PridelandsPhantom]

I’m sorry to rain on the parade, but I still think a live action was not necessary. I grew up when TLK first came out in 1994. I like that it’s animated and you can go colorful and bright. Yes, real life Africa has muted Earth colors ( a theme too prevalent in most films these days) I feel Disney has run out of original ideas. How is CYFTLT supposed to look? Will Nala retain her unique coloring? Will Scar look weird? I heard that Be Prepared will not be included. If so, that’s an insult because the Nazi symbolism adds to the sinister atmosphere