Is the New Lion King Animated or Live-Action? Even Jon Favreau Isnt Sure

Disneys upcoming Lion King adaptation has reached a slight hurdle. The film, a remake of the 1994 animated classic, is not exactly a “live-action“ movie because all of its animals are computer-generated, though plenty of people and media outlets have called it that. But director Jon Favreau also argues that it isnt technically right to label the film “animated“ either, thanks to its photorealistic animals. Even more curious: Disney will reportedly not campaign the film in the best-animated-feature race for the 2020 Oscars, instead focusing on the best-visual-effects race.

If you think this is all very confusing, then congratulations! You are in the same camp as Favreau himself, who still isnt sure how viewers should categorize the film.

“Well, its difficult because its neither, really,” he told SlashFilm. “It depends what standard youre using. Because theres no real animals and theres no real cameras and theres not even any performance thats being captured thats underlying data thats real. Everything is coming through the hands of artists.”

To reiterate: theres no motion capture in the film. That means the cast—including Donald Glover, playing Simba, and Beyoncé, playing Nala—only contributed voice acting, as in a classic animated film. Still, Favreau said, its also not just cut-and-dried animation. “To say its animated I think is misleading as far as what the expectations might be,” Favreau said. “And it also changes the way you sit and watch it.”

The photorealistic approach—which Favreau previously used to beautiful effect in his 2016 adaptation of The Jungle Book, a film that also included a lead performance from an actual human actor—encourages viewers to pay closer attention to what they are about to watch. “Thats a great disposition to be in as an audience member,” Favreau said. In an interview with IndieWire, the director also revealed that he slipped exactly one live-action scene into the film, in order to see if audiences could pick that moment out from the rest of the movie.

Favreau compared this mindset to how he felt watching Gravity, Alfonso Cuaróns Oscar-winning drama, which was lauded for its stunning visual effects. “I didnt know what I was gonna expect, I just heard it was cool. I didnt know how they did half the tricks. And I was completely drawn in by it and it was the experience I remember going to the movies for when I was little,” he said.

Alas, that doesnt quite answer the question of what we are supposed to dub the new Lion King. Though Favreau understands the human need to have an easy catchall term to quickly sum up the films visual style, the director is still working his way through it.

“I dont know what were gonna call it,” he said. “I dont know. But remember, things have to sort of fit into one clickable headline, so its hard to have the nuance.”

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