Disney’s trend of live-action versions of their famous animated hits has accelerated in the past few years. Almost all are explicitly modelled on their early counterparts, yet none have been as technically dissimilar and yet so aesthetically indebted to their previous iteration as The Lion King.
In the latest part of our Remake/Remodel video essay series, Leigh Singer takes a forensic look at 2019’s The Lion King, noting the various ways it adheres to and deviates from the tried-and-tested formula that saw Disney’s box office skyrocket in the early to mid 1990s.
But is Jon Favreau’s commercially successful update a cutting-edge makeover or cynical marketing ploy? Watch the full video below and be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel for more.
Published 14 Sep 2020
Jon Favreau’s update of Disney’s animated epic shows the studio’s remake philosophy is not so problem free.
By Leigh Singer
A side-by-side video comparison of the seminal 1960 horror and its near-identical 1998 update.
Jon Favreau brings Rudyard Kipling’s classic tale crashing into the 21st century. The result is astonishing.
Little White Lies was established in 2005 as a bi-monthly print magazine committed to championing great movies and the talented people who make them. Combining cutting-edge design, illustration and journalism, we’ve been described as being “at the vanguard of the independent publishing movement.” Our reviews feature a unique tripartite ranking system that captures the different aspects of the movie-going experience. We believe in Truth & Movies.
