New ‘Lion King’ live-action film will have four songs from original, one new Elton John, Beyonce song for the credits
The Jungle Book placed fifth in the top ten highest-grossing films of 2016, Beauty and the Beast was the second highest-grossing movie of last year, so a Lion King project seems poised for great success. According to The Sun, theater legend Tim Rice, who working on the soundtrack for the animated original, has revealed that only four of the songs from the original soundtrack will be included in the “live-action” version of the film.
Rice said that “Can You Feel The Love Tonight?,” “Hakuna Matata,” “I Just Can’t Wait To Be King,” and “Circle of Life” will be included and that he’s looking forward to working with collaborator Elton John and Beyonce on a new song for the end credits.
The actual quote: “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 Beyonce’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.”
Jungle Book director Jon Favreau will be helming the adaptation with an all-star cast: Donald Glover will voice the star Simba with Beyonce as Nala. Chiwetel Ejiofor (12 Years a Slave, Doctor Strange) will lend his voice to Scar, the iconic villain. James Earl Jones will return to voice Mafasa with Alfre Woodard (Luke Cage) voicing his mate, Simba’s mom, Sarabi.
Seth Rogen, who will voice Pumbaa and Billy Eichner completely the comedic duo as Timon.
The remaining cast is John Oliver (Zazu), John Kani (Rafiki), Florence Kasumba (Shenzi), Eric André (Azizi), Keegan Michael Key(Kamari) with JD McCrary and Shahadi Wright Joseph will play young Simba and young Nala, respectively.
Favreau is working from a script by Jeff Nathanson, adapted from the 1994 screenplay by Irene Mecchi, Jonathan Roberts, and Linda Woolverton.
Favreau, Jeffrey Silver, and Karen Gilchrist are producing, with Tom Peitzman and Thomas Schumacher exec producing, and John Bartnicki co-producing.
The Lion King will hit theaters on July 19, 2019.
Favreau is also working on a sequel to The Jungle Book, but no details have emerged yet, likely for a 2021 release.