“Mufasa: The Lion King,” the new photorealistic animated Disney film, is showing in German cinemas from today. A new trailer also says “Long live the king” – but that doesn’t mean Mufasa, but Stitch!
More than five years after the (almost) completely animated “The Lion King” remake from 2019, today, December 19, 2024, the time has come: “Mufasa: The Lion King” is a mixture of sequel and prequel coming to German Cinemas. But at the same time, of course, the next Disney films are already in the starting blocks – and one of them is already challenging “Mufasa” for the throne in the truest sense of the word: “Lilo & Stitch”.
The somewhat strange, but that's why it's so popular, Disney animated film from 2002 is also getting a live-action remake, which will be released in German cinemas on May 22, 2025. And Disney is now promoting this with a new teaser trailer that quite clearly takes aim at “The Lion King” and “Mufasa”.
In the trailer we first see the iconic sunrise over the savannah and images of African animals, as well as the words “Long Live The King” written in the “Lion King” font “Long live the king.” However, the trailer then reveals that this doesn't mean Mufasa or Simba, but rather Stitch – which is also held up in the classic Rafiki pose.
However, this doesn't happen on a mountain somewhere in Africa, but apparently on a beach in Hawaii, where the little blue-furred alien rascal can hardly wait to land in the water with his little water wings. The Lion King pose is also referenced in a new poster, which even features Rafiki himself making a cameo appearance. You can view the poster here:
Rafiki will probably not have a cameo in the finished film, because “Lilo & Stitch” tells the story of the animated film in a new way, as far as we know so far: Stitch, fleeing from alien captors, ends up on earth, where little Lilo ( Maia Kealoha) as her pet. When Stitch's alien creator and another alien agent land on Earth, it becomes even more difficult for Lilo's big sister Nani (Sydney Agudong) not to lose custody of Lilo.
In “Mufasa: The Lion King,” Rafiki tells Simba and Nala’s daughter how her grandfather rose to become king of the animals of the savannah. When he was still a lion cub, Mufasa met Taka, who was the same age, and the two became best friends. A fight with a pride of white lions brings the two even closer together, but then the lioness Sarabi drives a wedge between them. You can watch the trailer for “Mufasa” here:
