Elton John has seen Disney‘s remake of The Lion King, and now he’s calling the film a “huge disappointment”.
What We Know:
- The legendary singer-songwriter, Elton John, who composed the songs for the original 1994 movie, said that he is not happy with the new soundtrack.
- Over the summer, the new film became the highest-grossing animated film of all time, earning over $1.6 billion globally. It featured an all-star cast, including Beyoncé, Donald Glover, and James Earl Jones, but some critics were not thrilled with the remake.
- John worked on the new film, reworking some of his original music with the assistance of Beyoncé. However, John said he wishes he had played a larger role in the remake.
- John had this to say about the film, “The new version of The Lion King was a huge disappointment to me because I believe they messed the music up. Music was so much a part of the original and the music in the current film didn’t have the same impact. The magic and joy were lost. The new soundtrack fell out of the charts so quickly, despite the massive box-office success. I wish I’d been invited to the party more, but the creative vision for the film and its music was different this time around and I wasn’t really welcomed or treated with the same level of respect. That makes me extremely sad.”
- The 1994 soundtrack earned three Grammys, two Golden Globes and two Academy Awards, among many others. Both the new Lion King soundtrack and Beyoncé’s new album The Lion King: The Gift has struggled commercially.
John says “I’m so happy that the right spirit for the music lives on with the Lion King stage musical”.
