For anyone who grew up watching The Lion King, it’s difficult to forget the horror and emotion you felt when Scar took Simba down into the ravine, essentially sending him to his death at the hooves of a stampede. To this day, that scene remains difficult to watch without shedding a tear. Well, with this new photorealistic take on The Lion King about to arrive in theaters, Disney is about to deliver the scene again. However, since it actually looks real this time around, it could be even more devastating.
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Scar and Simba’s ominous exchange remains one of the most pivotal scenes in all of The Lion King, and Disney has released a small clip from it to allow fans to start getting prepared. You can check out the clip in the video above.
Now, this clip doesn’t feature anything too sad or terrible, as it only provides the lead-up to the stampede. Scar tells Simba that he needs to work on his roar until it can be heard from the top of the canyon, and he can’t leave until he’s done practicing. At the end of the clip, Scar walks away, and as we know from the original movie, he’s heading to go tell Mufasa his son is in danger.
More than anything, this clip gives us a good look at Chiwetel Ejiofor‘s new take on Scar, who was voiced by Jeremy Irons in the original movie. He’s definitely different, but every bit as scary. The young version of Simba seen in the clip is voiced by JD Mcrary.
A lot of people will refer to the new Lion King as “live-action,” though that couldn’t be farther from the truth. Director Jon Favreau and his team created the movie completely digitally, though it was always their goal to make the characters look like real animals.
“We’re really giving them the time to do it right,” Favreau said of his effects team. “That was relatively early footage, rushed for that event because we wanted to get it out. But I’m here working with them. It’s a lot of the same people I worked with on Jungle Book. There was probably a big learning curve for me on that one. Now I’m up to speed and I’m used to working with all of them, and I know what the tech could do and there’s all new tech. A lot of the consumer facing VR stuff that’s out there that wasn’t out there back around the time of Jungle Book.”
“We were using mostly motion capture tech, and now using game engine tech and consumer facing VR stuff, we’re able to create virtual production,” he continued. “It’s a very cool, efficient way of working and helps contribute to a live action feel because we’re able to actually go into VR and set cameras and operate real cameras that drive virtual cameras. It has a look that, hopefully will feel photo real. Even though everything’s animated in it, it still should have a look of a live action film. You’ll see.”
Disney’s The Lion King arrives in theaters on July 19th.
