New Lion King Movie Casts Its Simba And Mufasa

Disney's new Lion King movie has found two of its leads.

Director Jon Favreau (Iron Man, The Jungle Book) announced on Twitter today that Donald Glover will voice Simba, while James Earl Jones will return as Mufasa. Jonathan Taylor Thomas voiced young Simba in the 1994 original Lion King, with Matthew Broderick portraying the adult Simba.

In September 2016, when Favreau was announced as the director of the new Lion King, Disney said it was fast-tracking the film, though no premiere date has been announced yet.

Disney has been ramping up its production of live-action versions of animated classics of late. Some other recent examples include Maleficent, Cinderella, and most recently, The Jungle Book. The next one is Beauty and the Beast movie starring Emma Watson, which comes out in March.

The new Lion King has big shoes to fill, as the original made more than $968 million at the box office and won multiple Academy Awards, in addition to a pair of Grammy Awards for its soundtrack.

Disney and Favreau are also working on The Jungle Book 2, after last year's entry made $965.8 million worldwide. There are no release dates announced for The Lion King or The Jungle Book 2.