Lion King Getting a Live-Action Reboot

Jon Favreau heading up the Disney project
By Jenn Gidman,  Newser Staff
Posted Sep 28, 2016 2:19 PM CDT
Circle of Life for Lion King : a Live-Action Version
Jon Favreau is heading things up on the new flick.   (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP, File)

You can feel the love tonight if you already own a copy of 1994's Lion King on DVD, but soon you'll be able to feel the love live-action style, too, Us reports. Disney announced Wednesday it's working on a do-over of the animated film, per a press release, which means Simba, Scar, and the rest of the gang on the savannah will join other Disney characters, like Cinderella and Maleficent, who've gotten a live-action makeover. "The Lion King builds on Disney's success of reimagining its classics for a contemporary audience," the company says.

Songs from the cartoon version will be incorporated into the reboot, and helming the film will be Jon Favreau (the actor/director, not the speechwriter), who tweeted a short message Wednesday morning that simply said: "Excited for my next project," accompanied by emoji of a lion and a crown. There's no release date for either The Lion King or the sequel to The Jungle Book, which Favreau is also overseeing. (Relive that time a Lion King cast broke into song on a plane.)

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