Nairobi News

Chillax

‘The Lion King’ premieres in Kenya


The much-anticipated photorealistic remake of Disney’s 1994 The Lion King finally premiered in Kenya on Wednesday.

The event saw a number of the classical movie’s fans being treated to the first screening in East Africa at the Garden City Mall.

The one-hour-and-fifty-eight-minute movie was confirmed in September of 2016. The cast was signed and production started in early and mid-2017, respectively.

The film stars the voices of Donald Glover, Seth Rogen, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Alfre Woodard, Billy Eichner, John Kani, John Oliver and Beyoncé Knowles-Carter, as well as James Earl Jones reprising his role from the original.

ACROSS THE US

It premiered in Hollywood on July 9 and is scheduled to be released in theaters across the United States on July 19 2019.

In the first 24 hours of pre-sales on June 24, The Lion King became 2019’s second-best pre-seller behind Avengers: Endgame according to ticketing service Fandago.

Earlier this week, the Kenya Tourism Board received their share of the cake at the film’s premiere in London when the cast, alongside other stars, took photos against a banner that featured the logo of Magical Kenya.

The board termed this as an affirmation to Kenya’s position as an ‘undisputed home of safari and adventure’.

The film was directed by Jon Favreau, who is also credited to have directed 2016’s The Jungle Book and a number of films in the marvel comic sequel.