The Lion King World Expands Beyond Pridelands For Snowy Locations In Mufasa Teaser Trailer Shown At CinemaCon

Summary

• At CinemaCon, Disney unveiled first-look footage from
  Mufasa: The Lion King
  .
• The movie features a star-studded cast that includes Aaron Pierre, Kelvin Harrison Jr., Seth Rogen, Billy Eichner, and John Kani.
• The new footage reveals young Mufasa and many different landscapes.

Mufasa: The Lion King footage offers further insight into the prequel. The movie tells the story of a young Mufasa (Aaron Pierre) before he became the king depicted in the 2019 The Lion King, a photorealistic CG-animated remake of the traditionally animated 1994 Disney classic of the same name. The movie musical, which features music by Hans Zimmer, Pharrell Williams, and Nicholas Britell, was directed by Moonlight‘s Barry Jenkins and also stars Kelvin Harrison Jr., Seth Rogen, Billy Eichner, and John Kani.

Screen Rant was in attendance at CinemaCon in Las Vegas, where new footage debuted from the upcoming Mufasa: The Lion King. The now iconic “Circle of Life” kicks off the footage before showing a pack of lions atop an icy mountain. Rafiki can be heard saying, “A lion was born without a drop of nobility in his blood. A lion that would change our lives forever: Mufasa.” After, a young Mufasa is shown in addition to different landscapes of forests, snowy locales, and waterfalls. The brief teaser goes beyond the Pridelands, where most of The Lion King takes place.

The Prequel Movie Expands The Universe Of The Lion King

This new footage reveals that the Lion King prequel has a more expansive eye than the original movie despite taking place beforehand. Perhaps because Mufasa’s path to the throne takes a different tone than Simba’s avoidant approach, it offers a look at a much wider variety of locations and environments. So far, it’s unclear where the majority of the movie will take place, but it’s possible that the Pridelands could be the setting of less than half the movie if the adventurous tenor of this footage plays out on a larger scale.

Although first looks at the performances of the Mufasa: The Lion King cast have not yet been publicly shared by Disney, this footage also hints that the connections to the previous movie extend beyond the returning stars. The inclusion of “Circle of Life” in the teaser doesn’t necessarily mean that the movie itself will feature the song. However, it could be a tease that the upcoming prequel movie could feature some familiar songs and musical motifs from the overall franchise.

“Circle of Life” was written for the original 1994 movie by Elton John and Tim Rice.

Beyond this brief tease, the majority of the details about Mufasa: The Lion King are still being kept tightly under wraps. However, including a previous first-look image and this footage, Disney has dropped two major teases for the movie in just over a week, so it seems likely that a teaser is due for public release sooner rather than later. While teasers and clip packages that debut at CinemaCon don’t frequently see a proper online release, a new teaser cut with some first-look footage could potentially arrive sometime within the next month as the promotional campaign ramps up.