Film

The Director of ‘Moonlight’ Is Making A CGI ‘Lion King 2’, And People Feel… Torn

The film, which has been described as similar to 'The Godfather Part II' will once again be CGI.

by Joseph Earp  30 September 2020
The Lion King 2

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The response to the recent big-budget CGI Lion King remake was… let’s say “mixed”.

Most critics devastated the film, calling it a lifeless retread that should have been left permanently in the uncanny valley. By the end of its run, the film had amassed a mere 52% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, one of the worst aggregate scores of any of the Disney remakes.

Other people enjoyed it far more.

But that didn’t stop the film from making bonzo box office. The Lion King ended up raking in an eye-watering $1.657 billion, pretty much guaranteeing a sequel. What wasn’t guaranteed, however, was the wild choice for the sequel’s director, announced today: Barry Jenkins, he of Moonlight fame.

Weirder still, Lion King 2, which has been described as similar to The Godfather Part II (no, seriously), will explore the backstory of key characters while following the same photorealistic CGI template of the original. That means the director of one of the most humane, heartbreaking works of art of the last 50 years will spend the next however long mucking around with computer-generated cats.

Of course, the sequel is a long way off — and who knows, it might be good!  But the internet is… Well, pretty depressed about it, for the most part, a sadness people are trying to work through by making memes.

Hollywood is weird.