Disney unveiled new footage from its upcoming slate, including the joked-filled scene where Thor encounters the Guardians of the Galaxy from Avengers: Infinity War, the first meeting between Han and Lando from Solo: A Star Wars Story (more here), and an action-packed trailer from Ant-Man and the Wasp.
But it was their highly anticipated live-action remakes of The Lion King, Aladdin, and Dumbo that had the attendees buzzing.
The Lion King
Disney saved the best for last, showing the first ever footage from Jon Favreau’s remake of The Lion King. The footage was a shot-by-shot remake of the original Lion King intro, beginning with the orange sun rising up from the Pride Lands. As The Circle of Life plays, a menagerie of beasts fills the screen, from soaring birds to marching ants to lumbering elephants (relive the original below).
It is one word, spectacular. As the animals surround Pride Rock, a baby lion — Simba — is lifted up. The cub sneezes as dust is ritualistically smeared on his face. There’s no uncanny valley here, the animals look realistic (if not pristinely clean). It was just a glimpse of what’s to come, but consider us impressed.
Aladdin
Behind the scenes footage of Aladdin was also shown, with Will Smith taking over the role of the iconic Genie.
New @disney distro head Cathleen Taff on Will Smith's Genie in live-action #Aladdin: "No one can replicate the iconic performance of Robin Williams nor would we want them to." #CinemaCon @getFANDOM
— Lawrence Yee (@lawryee) April 24, 2018
Disney distribution executive Cathleen Taff described Smith’s performance as “a little bit Fresh Prince, a little bit Hitch, and a whole lot of attitude.”
It’s important to note that Smith’s character is not CGI, or at least from the footage that was shown. He isn’t even blue. Instead, a real-life Smith is shown interacting with Aladdin (Mena Massoud) and Jasmine (Naomi Scott) as any other human would. Smith does sport Genie’s trademark facial hair and ponytail, and in one scene even appears in drag.
The set pieces look vibrant and colorful. There’s lots of action including what looks like a very modern take on the classic “One Jump Ahead” musical sequence. It looks like part of the scene was filmed with stabilized body cams that are right in front of Aladdin’s face. The remake also looks to be taking strong inspiration from Bollywood-esque dance numbers. Naomi Scott teased some new songs as well — shots were shown of the actress singing, but no audio was heard.
Dumbo
While the original Dumbo ended with a shot of the baby pachyderm flying, the new Dumbo apparently starts with it. Danny DeVito plays a beleaguered circus owner who is looking for an act to save his failing business. Colin Farrell also stars in live-action remake. There’s plenty of period circus performances reminiscent of the recent The Greatest Showman, and while Dumbo himself wasn’t shown in great detail, concept art of the sparkling-eyed, floppy-eared elephant elicited “awws” from the crowd.
Disney’s Christopher Robin
Winnie the Pooh, Eeyore, Tigger, Piglet, and more return to the big screen in live-action form. Ewan McGregor plays a grown-up Christopher Robin, who reconnects with the creatures as an adult. The animation was not as seamless as The Lion King footage, but Pooh and company were still adorable. They find themselves in London, where antics ensue. One can’t help but compare this to the recent Paddington movies, but Disney always knows how to delight.
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We got to see an extended clip where Vanellope is hanging out with all the other Disney princess. The amount of self-satire going on in this scene is pretty impressive. Snow White reveals she’s legally blind, which is why she always looks around in wide-eyed wonder. Ariel starts to break out into a “Part of Your World” type ballad and the other princesses beg her to stop. And they all proudly exclaim that they don’t have living mothers! Probably one of the best gags is Merida going on about her backstory but no one can understand her. “She’s from the other studio,” says one of the princesses.
And who should show up at the end of the scene? C-3PO telling the princesses they have to get ready for another show. This scene shows just how irreverent, meta, and goofy this sequel is going to be.
Mary Poppins Returns
Not too much more of Mary Poppins Returns was revealed. Mary (Emily Blunt) and Jack (Lin-Manuel Miranda) have a scene interacting with animated characters, much like Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke did in the original. And speaking of Van Dyke, the legendary actor makes a cameo in the film where he (or at least a body double with his head edited in) dances on a table.
Disney has quite the slate coming up for the next year. We can’t wait.