The first trailer for Disney’s so-called ““live-action” reboot of The Lion King premiered last week, and it was tremendously successful. According to Disney, the trailer tallied 224.6 million views over its first 24 hours. Inside Disney, that’s second only to Avengers: Infinity War, which picked up 238 million views over its first day across all channels, according to EW.
The stunning trailer showcased the near-photorealistic CGI, which is probably why Disney is calling it live-action. The video featured Mufasa’s “everything the light touches” speech, and shows baby Simba being introduced by Rafiki to the gathering at Pride Rock. You can watch it again in the embed above.
James Earl Jones plays Mufasa, while Donald Glover voices Simba. Singer-actress Beyonce plays Nala, while Chiwetel Ejiofor voices Scar. Comedian John Oliver plays Zazu, while Seth Rogen and Billy Eichner voice Pumbaa and Timon, respectively. John Kani voices Rafiki, while Keegan-Michael Key and Eric Andre are also voicing characters. You can see the full cast in the image below.
The new Lion King‘s story was written by Catch Me If You Can and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales‘ Jeff Nathanson. It’s directed by Jon Favreau (Iron Man, Jungle Book) and hits theatres in July 2019.
The original Lion King made more than $968 million at the box office and won multiple Academy Awards, in addition to a pair of Grammy Awards for its soundtrack.