Hard to fathom the deflating excitement surrounding Barry Jenkins’ “Mufasa: The Lion King.” Hey, it could turn out to be a good film, I don’t know, and I’m supposed to see it next week, but this has turned into quite the odd endeavor for the “Moonlight” filmmaker.
As it stands, the social embargo on ‘Mufasa’ lifts on December 9. Review embargo lifts on December 17. The film itself will be released on December 20. The trailer did not convince many that this will be a good film. Much like Jon Favreau’s 2019 “live-action” remake, the lions looked unexpressive and indistinguishable.
Jenkins embarking on this mainstream Disney prequel seems totally out of place for his talents. During the summer, the terms “soulless cash grab” and "sold out" were aimed at him on X, and he was none too happy about it, fighting back and defending his decision to direct this one.
Disney is well known to control any filmmaker who directs one of their movies, and I doubt it was any different in this case. The best thing I can say about Jenkins signing on to this prequel is that it could maybe help him fund more personal projects in the future.