The pre-launch screening of Disney’s Mufasa: The Lion King in Kenya is scheduled for Tuesday tomorrow at Westgate Cinemas ahead of its official worldwide release on December 20.
However, tomorrow’s premiere in Nairobi will be an invitation-only affair for film critics and journalists, who will also get a chance to interact with director Barry Jenkins, who won Best Picture at the Oscars for his 2016 film Moonlight. Moonlight was the first Best Picture winner with an all-black cast.
On 29 April, Walt Disney Studios released the first official teaser for Mufasa: The Lion King, a prequel to the 2019 remake of the classic 1994 animated musical drama The Lion King.
The latest installment explores the uncertain rise of the future beloved king of the Pride Lands as Rafiki, Mufasa’s closest ally, tells the iconic legend to Kiara, the baby cub of Simba and Nala, alongside a comeback for popular duo Timon and Pumba.
Told in flashback, Mufasa’s story begins as an orphaned lion cub, alone and lost, until a kindly lion named Taka, heir to a royal bloodline, takes him in.
The two cubs become friends, and somewhere along the way their bond is tested as they work together to evade a menacing and deadly enemy.
Director Jenkins has previously described Mufasa as a king in the making who has yet to find his rhythm. That’s certainly evident throughout much of the trailer, as he and Taka stumble through the wilderness in search of their new home. But as Mufasa comes face to face with Kiros and stands up to his tyranny, it’s easy to see the young lion becoming a benevolent, powerful leader. Even though Taka may be royalty, Mufasa naturally becomes a leader, rallying the other animals to fight back against the evil Kiros represents and creating a spectacle of a battle within nature.
32 Grammy Award winner Beyonce will reprise her role as Nala, and her daughter Blue Ivy Carter will join her as Kiara, the daughter of Queen Nala and King Simba, voiced by Donald Glover.
Aaron Pierre will play Mufasa, Kelvin Harrison Jr. is Taka, Tiffany Boone is Sarabi, Kagiso Lediga is young Rafiki, Preston Nymon is Zazu, Mads Mikkelsen is Kiros, “a formidable lion with big plans for his pride”, Thandiwe Newton is Taka’s mother, Eshe. Lennie James is listed as Taka’s father Obasi, Ankia Noni Rose as Mufasa’s father Masego, John Kani as Rafiki, Seth Rogen as Pumbaa, and Bill Eichner as Timon.
Source Nairobi News
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