Even though Disney’s “live-action” Lion King isn’t really live-action, people are still roaring to see it in theaters.
In the 24 hours following the teaser trailer’s release, the first look at director Jon Favreau’s photorealistic CGI beasts garnered 224.6 million views online. It’s the second most viewed trailer in a single day from any studio, trailed only by the trailer for Avengers: Infinity War, which racked up 238 million views.
Although, Infinity War hails from Disney’s Marvel Studios division so… win-win.
The teaser replicates a famous scene from the original animated feature: Rafiki christening the birth of Simba and presenting Mufasa’s heir to the kingdom of Pride Rock.
There’s certainly a lot of hype surrounding the film, which features similar technology used for Favreau’s live-action/CGI hybrid take on The Jungle Book. Among the star-studded voice cast, Donald Glover voices Simba, Beyoncé Knowles-Carter voices Nala, Chiwetel Ejiofor voices Scar, John Oliver voices Zazu, Seth Rogen voices Pumbaa, and Billy Eichner voices Timon.
The trailer comes as Disney is readying other live-action interpretations of its animated library, including Aladdin and Mulan.
The Lion King is scheduled for theaters on July 19, 2019.
