Mufasa: The Lion King

"The story of an orphan who would be king."

2024 1h 58m EN

👍

7.3

SOLID

★7.3TMDB · 2,798

AdventureFamilyAnimation

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

Mufasa, a cub lost and alone, meets a sympathetic lion named Taka, the heir to a royal bloodline. The chance meeting sets in motion an expansive journey of a group of misfits searching for their destiny.

“The story of an orphan who would be king.”

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Cast

Aaron Pierre
Mufasa (voice)
Kelvin Harrison Jr.
Taka (voice)
Tiffany Boone
Sarabi (voice)
Kagiso Lediga
Young Rafiki (voice)
Preston Nyman
Zazu (voice)
Blue Ivy Carter
Kiara (voice)
John Kani
Rafiki (voice)
Mads Mikkelsen
Kiros (voice)

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Barry Jenkins
Writers: Jeff Nathanson, Jonathan Roberts, Linda Woolverton
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Budget of $200M — blockbuster tier. Only ~1% of films ever made reach this.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Made its money back 3.6× over at the box office.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Released 2 years ago.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

CINEMA

Did you know

Part of the "The Lion King (Reboot) Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Barry Jenkins, shot by James Laxton. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Dave Metzger. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Joi McMillon shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Aaron Pierre and Kelvin Harrison Jr. and Tiffany Boone carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Barry Jenkins directs. James Laxton behind the camera. Dave Metzger scores. Joi McMillon cuts. Made its budget back several times over at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Budget of $200M — blockbuster tier. Only ~1% of films ever made reach this.
2Made its money back 3.6× over at the box office.
3Released 2 years ago.
4Part of the "The Lion King (Reboot) Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.
5Directed by Barry Jenkins, shot by James Laxton. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
6Original score by Dave Metzger. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
7Editor Joi McMillon shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
8Aaron Pierre and Kelvin Harrison Jr. and Tiffany Boone carry the top of the cast.
9Marketing tagline: "The story of an orphan who would be king.".
10IMDB entry: tt13186482 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
11Classified under 13 themes, including "friendship", "paradise", "lion", "musical".
12Released under 20 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography: James Laxton
Original score: Dave Metzger
Editing: Joi McMillon
Production design: Mark Friedberg
VFX supervisor: Adam Valdez
Sound: Paula Fairfield
Runtime: 118 min · 1h 58m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $200,000,000
Box office: $722,631,756
Return: 361% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): PG
IMDB: Mufasa: The Lion King (2024)

Part of

The Lion King (Reboot) Collection

Using advanced 3D CGI (Computer-Generated Imagery) technology, Disney reimagines the classic story of Simba, Mufasa and Scar with photorealistic animation.

Also by

Barry Jenkins

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Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

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Community reviews

What people are saying

r96sk2024-12-23
★ 8/10
Rubbish poster aside, <em>'Mufasa: The Lion King'</em> is a success. I can't overlook that poster, how amateur can you get - it genuinely looks like something I'd whip up seconds before the deadline. Thankfully, the movie itself is very good, it's one I enjoyed quite a bit. The animation is class, the lions look amazingly majestic. I will say the white ones look a bit iffy, but that's nothing even close to a big issue. The voice cast are all perfectly good. Aaron Pierre, Kelvin Harrison Jr. (only now realising his character wasn't called Tucker... bit embarrassing on my part), John Kani et al. all merit props. The standouts for me, however, are Mads Mikkelsen and Lennie James - two actors I do love watching (or listening to, in this case), admittedly. Music-wise, it's not the strongest - I can't recall any of the songs, to be honest. That's not actually a terrible thing though, as it means none of the musical numbers grated on me either - and that's always a win in my books. Elsewhere, Timon & Pumbaa are unamusing and wasted, but at the same time are unnecessarily forced into this prequel/sequel. Obviously, this still falls far adrift of the beloved original animated film. Nevertheless, I'll hold it in higher esteem than the 2019 remake, even if I didn't overly mind that one to be fair. Oh, lastly, nice touch dedicating this to James Earl Jones at the get-go - was expecting it at the end.
CinemaSerf2024-12-24
★ 6/10
They've been praying for rain for ages but are ill-prepared for when it finally comes and washes away the young "Mufasa" from the loving paws of his parents and out into the wilderness. Luckily, he is rescued by the friendly young cub "Taka" whose mother "Eshe" convinces his sceptical father "Obasi" to let her adopt him. The pair prove inseparable as they grow up, but the encroachment of a pride of angry white lions led by "Kiros" soon threatens their peaceful lives and forces the two to flee in search of a mystical land. Along the way they encounter the wily lioness "Sarabi" and her airborne early warning system "Zazu" and joining forces, have their work cut out for them crossing the snowy mountains. The whole story is regaled by the sagely "Rafiki" to a young cub "Kiara" and the underused, rough-round-the-edges, warthog/meerkat combo of "Pumbaa" and "Timon" so we know the ending all along. Not that jeopardy is in anyway the point here, it's not that kind of Disney film. It's really just a fairly shameless rip-off of the first, far superior, film that though it looks great with all the integrated live-action visuals has a story that's cheesily wafer thin. It's purpose is to set out the origins of the "Lion King" (1994) but all it really does is remind us of just how good that was and just how average this one is. They keep referring to the "Circle of Life" but barring a few meanderings from the orchestral score into the songs from the past, we are simply left with some banal offerings from Lin-Manuel Miranda best summed up by "Bye Bye" - straight from the Janet and John book of rhyming "seas" with "trees". Certainly, it looks great but it's also quite confusing whom it's for. The kids watching in the cinema with me were quickly bored by the undercooked story once the awe of the visuals had worn off. It's all perfectly watchable and is quite a testament to the arts of those in the CGI department well worthy of the big screen, but it's all instantly forgettable fayre that just sort of rolls along towards it's rousing denouement unremarkably.
Dean2025-03-09
★ 10/10
Great movie. Story's amazing and CGI never been so good before. I mean great visuals. To be honest, I didn't see any flows in this movie. It's perfect.