Mufasa: The Lion King: The journey of Mufasa, from an adorable lion cub to the king of animals, is now available for each cinephile to savour. The movie Mufasa: The Lion King has hit theatres worldwide, including India, and has received a roaring response.
Oscar-winning director Barry Jenkins has brought the story of a young and orphaned lion who later gets adopted by a lion prince named Taka. The duo then go on to become enemies.
Mufasa: The Lion King is a sequel to the 2019 Lion King remake.
Jenkins has said it was important to revisit the Disney classic so the audience would understand that the protagonist, Lion Mufasa, was never perfect and that the villain Scar was not always evil.
“For 30 years, we've been living with this idea of Mufasa as unimpeachably great and good, and Scar is like the full embodiment of evil,” Jenkins had earlier told news agency Reuters.
"In this story, we get to go back and show that no one is born good or born evil. You'll get a result of all these different choices that you make, good parenting, bad parenting, nature versus nurture," the Moonlight director added.
The film, written by Jeff Nathanson, uses photorealistic animation and serves as both a prequel to the original animated 1994 The Lion King and a sequel to the 2019 remake, which Jon Favreau directed.
In India, Shah Rukh Khan has voiced Mufasa in the Hindi version, and Mahesh Babu has given the voice in Telugu.
Globally, the movie includes the voices of leads Aaron Pierre as Mufasa, the lion who grows up to be the king and father of Simba, along with Kelvin Harrison Jr as Taka, who's eventually known as the antagonist named Scar, a prince and Mufasa's adoptive brother.
The movie is available to watch in theatres across the world.
However, in this age of OTT, people have been curious about its release on these platforms.
Reports suggest that this movie may never be released on Netflix. Walt Disney Pictures distributes it, and thus, it may be released on Disney+ Hotstar.
For example, Disney's Inside Out 2 was released on Disney+ Hotstar two months after being released in theatres.
Set in the Pride Lands of Tanzania after the events of the 2019 Lion King film, Mufasa follows Mufasa and Taka, who become friends and eventually adoptive brothers until a series of devastating events threaten their bond.
The voice cast also includes multi-Grammy winner Beyonce Knowles-Carter, who reprises her role from the 2019 film as Simba's mate, Nala, and the Texas Hold 'Em singer's daughter, Blue Ivy, making her film debut voicing Simba and Nala's daughter, Princess Kiara.
It was important for Pierre to pay homage to the late James Earl Jones, one of the most renowned actors in Hollywood and the original voice of Mufasa.
"He really, for me, is just top level," the Genius actor said.
For Pierre, Jones was his guiding light that extinguished any fear he had about the iconic role.
"I actually managed to use that (his fear) in the adolescent version because the adolescent version doesn't have it all figured out," he added.
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