Mufasa: The Lion King (Barry Jenkins, December 20, 2024) Movie • Page 2

It's so weird to see them calling him by his first name like they are close friends.

I am very disappointed when anyone of his level of talent does a movie like this, but trying to contact them directly is part of this strange idea that they belong to us or they owe us something.

 

It's especially weird to try and tell someone what a past version of him would or wouldn't say based on interviewing him one time.

 

Only the ultimate dorks will care what a director decides to do with their career. It's like they think directors become emotionless robots who just want cash whenever they accept or seek out a job with a popular IP.

I'm willing to bet they grew up admiring the same IPs we did, so I don't see the need to act like they're compromising.

 

No, it is perfectly normal to be disappointed when one of the best new directors of the last fifteen years decides to make a Lion King movie. It is important to distinguish between deciding to make a childrens' film from a place of genuine interest versus joining the Disney machine.

 

If he deletes a film that he was currently making just so he can do the Lion King film, sure.

If he looked at his options and decided the Lion King was what interested him most and he went with it, why would anyone care? And why are we the ones distinguishing? Who are we to draw the line and judge from afar?

It’s very tiring to see the same cynical takes come out when a non-IP director decides to take on an IP project. How many of us here didn’t grow up with a Disney IP, and how many artists would like to explore the influences of their own upbringing?

 

He did delete a film. The film he would have made during this time will no longer exist. It might even be two films given how long big budget films take to finish.

We are talking about the prequel to a remake. We know how Disney has dealt with directors who drew outside the lines. This is no one's lifelong dream project. It is different from something like Barbie, where Gerwig was able to make a huge success critically and commercially because she had creative freedom.

It even isn't necessarily his fault. A lot of directors of smaller films have talked openly about their financial struggles. Cuaron came back after doing a Harry Potter film and Soderbergh kept making weird little movies after some big blockbusters, but not everyone else does. That is the fear.

 

This thread is in shambles

 

“This is no one’s dream project” Wow, you two must be very close. I didn’t know you knew him so well.

It’s one thing to be upset that a [hypothetical] film you would be more interested in won’t be seen so early. However, turning it into a cynical argument that this can’t be anyone’s dream project gives off big dork vibes. (Also, does every project have to be a dream project? Could he not just want the experience of working with a big IP through his own creative curiosity? Can working with an IP that was popular during his upbringing not be a check-in-the box for his career?)

The cynical takes are nothing more than projecting one’s own standards and preferences onto the decisions and actions of Jenkins’s own career.

 

And it sounds like he’s happy with it

You are probably wondering... what is the director of Moonlight (2016) doing talking to me about an eight-quadrant tentpole legacy IP massive film? And I gotta say, the thought was very strange to me at first, as well. But oh my god. It was one of the best decisions I've ever made in my life, and I'm so glad I made this picture.

Is this not enough

 

I think we’re losing the plot here, I don’t care about the director so much as continuing on with the 2019 lion King instead of leaving it in the trash heap where it belongs

 

To be clear, I didn't mean just Jenkins. I said it is no one's dream project. It exists to make billions of dollars, sell movie merchandise, and lead to more sequels. I guess there is a 1 percent chance that Barry Jenkins' dream was to be a hired gun for a mindless tentpole, but it is hard to believe based on his four projects thus far. The easiest answer is usually the correct one, which is that he took the job to gain financial security or maybe to help his longterm prospects.

 

I believe the easiest answer is that it fits as a new experience in his career palette. Looks like we’re even. Gonna just have to go off with what he has said regarding the film (check
the above comment).

 

"The rat and the pig" sounds like how they'd be described by mobsters. "Gimme the money or the rat and the pig get plugged full'a lead."

 

That picture is just a reminder that they traded the expressiveness of hand-drawn animation for a CGI version with Seth Rogen slapped over it.

 

and yet rogen was the best thing in that piece of shit

 

for whoever’s interested, the OG lion king is getting re-released in theaters on the 12th for its 30th anniversary

 

jesus, that's quite a bit of "well, THAT happened" type of dialogue in a trailer for barry jenkins' theatrical follow-up to if beale street could talk

 

Orson Welles couldn't save a Disney tentpole movie. At the end of the day we have to hope that Jenkins buys the house and car he wants with the money from this film and doesn't get talked into making Jurassic Park 8 to add a wing to that new house.

 

i’ll watch it. might be my first and only live action disney remake/franchise extender but i’ll see it for barry. and hope whatever’s next is much more interesting and appropriately funded.

 

I’ll skip it and hope whatever’s next is more interesting

 

Disney loves to bury the fact that and several other upcoming movies are musicals.