Barry Jenkins To Direct a Follow-Up To The Lion King

We have done an excellent job adjusting to the idea of Disney remaking all of our childhood favorites. From Mulan to Beauty and the Beast, The Mouse has quickly learned that we’re willing to pay to re-watch stories that shaped our childhood. It doesn’t even matter if there are plenty of changes to the tale or not! However, instead of a remake, we’re getting a follow-up to a remake. Barry Jenkins of Moonlight fame will be directing a follow-up to The Lion King from 2019.

Barry Jenkins Leading a The Lion King Story

We all know and love The Lion King, the 1994 animated Disney film about the power of family, courage, and friendship. It is often considered one of the best to come from Disney during the Disney Renaissance. To the hesitance of many fans, we earned a remake with 2019’s “live-action” (a.k.a. photorealistic computer-animated) version. Our review for The Lion King remake at Comic Years was that the film had nothing different to say but still said it in an innovative way. No matter what way you spin it, the film was a massive success, grossing $1.65 billion at the worldwide box office.

We don’t know a lot about Barry Jenkins’ follow-up to The Lion King. It looks like it won’t be a sequel, but rather an exploration of the storyworld that’s already been created. Rumor has it that we’ll dig deeper into the origin stories of some characters, including Mufasa.

Despite specific plot details being kept under wraps, there are a few things that we do know. It will be written by Jeff Nathanson, who also wrote the 2019 version. The film will also be going with the same photorealistic animation.

Image via Disney

Another Disney Film To Add To Our List

Barry Jenkins started out directing various short films, finally popping up on our radar in 2016 with Moonlight. It has one of the weirdest Best Picture win experiences in history, and will forever go down as the film that got overshadowed by La La Land. We’re excited to see Jenkins taking on a new story. He has told us so many heartfelt, beautiful, and dramatic movies about hardships in life. So, we’re thrilled to see something like The Lion King.

Whether Disney will follow Mulan’s path and head to streaming or not is something that only time will tell. Though, with the massive success of The Lion King, we think that this is a movie that people are going to want to see in theaters.

Are you eager to find out more about the upcoming The Lion King film by Barry Jenkins? Let us know your early predictions in the comments below!

Featured image via Disney.

Meghan Hale is the kind of movie lover that has a "must watch" that is a mile long... and growing. When she isn't talking about the latest film and television news she is writing one of her many in-process novels, screaming film trivia at anybody who will listen, and working as a mental health care professional. Follow her on Twitter @meghanrhale for some fun theories and live reactions to all things entertainment.