Over the years, Disney has continuously recreated their own masterpieces from the previous years using live action properties. As a prequel for their 2019 live action film, “The Lion King”, Disney has decided to make a new movie called “Mufasa” which is set to release on Dec. 20, 2024. 

To provide some background for what is known about the movie, according to Parade.com, the film was described as an origin story that shifts between different timelines throughout. This movie will most likely cover the strain of Mufasa and Scar’s relationship, a deeper dive into Mufasa’s youth and “Mufasa’s rise to become the iconic king that we all know,” Barry Jenkins said to The Hollywood reporters on April 30, 2024. 

It has also been noted that this movie will not have anything to do with the sequel, “The Lion King II: Simba’s Pride”, a movie that explores the lives of Simba and Nala’s offspring. Additionally, it’s confirmed that characters, Rafiki, Timon, and Pumbaa will be making an appearance in the movie voiced by their actors from “The Lion King” (2019). 

Relating back to Jenkins, as a film creator, he has won several awards for his work. For instance, his film that aired in 2016 won three Oscars. “Jenkins said ‘Mufasa’ is a ‘very personal film’ for him and that he’s seen the original 1994 ‘Lion King’ over 200 times as he was babysitting his nephews when they were at a young age,” said Indiewire reporters, in relation to Jenkins’ motivation for the film. Although several people are happily anticipating this film, plenty of other Disney fans are not so thrilled. 

“Most of these recent live action movies are good. Some have been quite hit or miss. I’m quite a fan of Disney movies, but I won’t be rushing to the movie theater to see “Mufasa”. To be honest, I don’t feel that another “Lion King” related movie is necessary for the franchise,” said Tyler Fred de Leon, a COMPASS freshman.

One of the biggest criticisms of the movie is the animation. Critics continuously note how dull the animation is. “Barry, you’re too good and talented for this Bob Iger’s (the director of the film) soulless machine,” says user @midereres_k on X in response to the film’s trailer. 

In Jenkin’s reply, he states how the original 1994 film takes inspiration from Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” and how these films will continue to take inspiration from these types of plays and give children their first experience of communal grief.  “There is nothing soulless about ‘The Lion King’. For decades children have sat in theaters all over the world experiencing collective grief for the first time, engaging Shakespeare for the first time, across aisles in myriad languages,” said Jenkins in reply to the X comment.

As a result of Jenkins’ statement, even more backlash has been given towards him, stating that responding to such criticism is unprofessional as a film creator. Instead of responding to this as well, he chose to ignore it, making a post on X.com saying “I responded. It’s done. I’m going back to work now. Much respect.” 

Despite the harsh critics, Jenkins is still moving forward to the creation of this film as lots of progress has been made. To clear up any confusion, several movies are often still in the progress even though trailers have been released to the public. Indiewire notes how based on trailers and small clips that the animation for this film is evidently better than ever and assured to become a classic. For now, this movie will only be shown in theaters, then eventually moved to Disney+. The first trailer for the movie has been made public and can be found on Youtube.