Disney’s live action adaptation of The Lion King is already putting numbers on the board. With anticipation already building for the remake of the childhood classic, the teaser trailer, the first for the film, accumulated a record 224.6 million views globally within its first 24 hours, becoming the most watched trailer for Disney in a day.
Across all the studios, it only falls as the second most-watched in a 24-hour span after Avengers: Infinity Wars earned 238 million views in its first day. The trailer arrived on Thanksgiving and features the iconic opening scene of the film in which Simba is presented to the animal kingdom by Rafiki as James Earl Jones reprises his role as Mufasa in a voiceover: “Everything the light touches is our kingdom.”
The remainder of the cast is set to a star-studded cast in which you’ll find Donald Glover as Simba, Beyoncé as Nala, Chiwetel Ejiofor as Scar, Alfre Woodard as Simba’s mother Sarabi, John Oliver as Zazu, John Kani as Rafiki, Florence Kasumba as Shenzi, Eric André as Azizi, and Billy Eichner and Seth Rogen as Timon and Pumbaa. JD McCrary and Shahadi Wright Joseph will play young Simba and young Nala, respectively.
The Lion King arrives as one of the many Disney films that will be receiving a live-action/CGI version in the coming years, with Dumbo, Aladdin, Lady and The Tramp and Mulan all scheduled for a facelift.