Originally published at: I guess we needed a prequel about Mufasa from Lion King | Boing Boing
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I, for one am pretty happy that Star Trek didn’t end with TOS, that Star Wars wasn’t three movies, and that, in general, universes have been expanded.
The idea that reboots, remakes, or extensions of universes should be ignored _to protect the ideal of the original really screams of gatekeeping to me. That same argument has been used to explain why diverse casts or gender-swapping characters shouldn’t happen - because it interferes with the spirit of the original as the one true measure everything else must be measured against.
Disney has already proven how much this doesn’t matter! There already was a Lion King II! It was terrible in comparison to the original (and watched by significantly fewer viewers). Did it “sully” people’s memories of the original? Did The Lion Guard, a Disney Junior sequel series that has been pretty well received by children, “sully” the experiences of those who went to the theatre to see the original?
“I don’t want Disney to make new media because I might not like it” is a gatekeeping position to take. If you want your universe of Lion King to end with the first movie, don’t watch the sequel. I don’t think it’s fair to deprive fans of the universe who might want to see a well-produced, big-budget sequel instead of the direct-to-home-movie crap The Lion King II was, just because of an opinion “the first movie was so good the universe should be frozen there.”
Sure, freeze your own experience there if you want it. Don’t deprive other fans of their opportunity to experience that universe again because of fear.
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Don’t forget this gem:
(I never watched it so I shouldn’t judge. Maybe it was great?)
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If you can’t have James Earl Jones doing the voice, why bother?
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How old is Mustapha in the movie? Will he be voiced by Hayden Christensen?
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Another chance to get this classic trending. Why must it dwell in obscurity? Sync it up to a barely-animated Powerpoint and viral fame is yours.
This got me wondering “did anyone ever try writing a prequel to the original non-animal-based version of Hamlet?” and the internet did not disappoint.
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Is this going to be animated? That way, they can release a live-action remake later.
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Don’t forget the sidequel:
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I think that was already covered above:
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Ah yes:
However it was DTV, so of course it’s viewership was lower. Interestingly it was yet another Shakespeare ripoff: Romeo and Juliet in this case instead of Hamlet.
Besides, Disney has a long history of DTV sequels since the 90s:
So they’re just continuing the trend on the live-action/cg remake train.
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While I 100% agree that new remakes don’t make the originals you loved disappear, I can’t help but lament studios using their large budgets on stuff that’s not new, from new creators and artists and on new stories and ideas. Obviously there are exceptions. They are still making new stuff too. Coco and encanto and turning red were all totally new stories and were great. And I’m sure there will be sequels of those as well soon enough. Ha.
Maybe it’s time for a Lion King movie based on Titus Andronicus just so we can see Mufasa trick the Hyena Queen into eating her own litter.
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Great article out this weekend on that, and some thoughts on why (gift article, no paywall):
I wonder if the complication and uncertainty of life is a part of prequels’ appeal. The horizon is full of question marks — global, political and personal. We’re overwhelmed with choice and with the unknown. With a prequel, you know — at least in broad strokes — what’s coming.
That can be a kind of comfort. Maybe prequels satisfy the same urge we felt in our earliest days as audiences, asking for one more read from a well-worn book at bedtime: Tell me a story where I know how it turns out.
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As a huge Lion king Fan and an old furry… nah, we really don’t need this. Unless somebody furry is going to direct this one than please no. The live action one is really devoid of emotion and really seemed to be directed by a non-furry person.
The Reduced Shakespeare Company is an American national treasure. Their summary of all the histories in five minutes presented as a football game, with the crown as the football) is amazing
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I’m guessing that those of us hoping for the unrelenting story of Mufasa’s evolution from postcolonial freedom fighter to hereditary autocrat are going to be left disappointed?
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What can I say? Jon Favreau doesn’t direct anthropomorphized animals very well he went out of his way to not anthropomorphize the expressions like you would in a cartoon and you ended up with a movie with no emotion. His gut reaction to the source material was just … wrong.
You say “mixed reception”, but that’s only true of the critical response. The remake made a ton of money (1.7Billion vs 970 Million for the original; adjusted for inflation they’re almost equal) and has an 88% positive audience score on Rotten Tomatoes (52% with critics) so there’s clearly an audience there for it.
You and I might not be asking for it, but that’s a big difference from no one asking for it.
And who knows, this could end up being a better movie. Sometimes the stuff no one’s asking for can be surprising. Just from the last several years, Blade Runner 2049 and HBO’s Watchmen come to mind.
