6 Billion-Dollar Ideas for the ‘Lion King’ Cinematic Universe

With Mufasa: The Lion King recently released, let’s talk about how to expand (or save) the Lion King brand.

Jon Favreau’s photorealistic 2019 remake of The Lion King was lambasted by critics and fans alike for being an unimaginative rehash of the original. It also clocked an impressive $1.6 billion at the box office, so of course we got a sequel from the Disney IP machine last week. Or was it a prequel? It’s a sequel-prequel where Simba’s daughter Kiara is told the story of Mufasa’s rise to power and Scar’s fall from grace.

To be fair, the talent behind Mufasa: The Lion King is impressive. Oscar-winner Barry Jenkins of Moonlight fame is behind the camera and the cast is led by Aaron Pierre, Kelvin Harrison Jr., and Mads Mikkelsen. But while the creative talent behind the film isn’t particularly concerning, Disney’s attitude towards it is. Sean Bailey, the Disney executive in charge of “reimagining” the studio’s animated films for live action, told the New York Times that Mufasa is the next step in making the franchise a “big, epic saga” on the same scale as Star Wars. It’s a goal some might describe as “creatively bankrupt” or “a pipe dream with no conceivable path to success.” We prefer to think of it as “probably both of those things” but also “an easy opportunity for an ‘additional literary material’ credit if we start getting clicks on this now.”

And yet, ‘Mufasa’ and co. got lapped by the Blue Blur last week with ‘Sonic the Hedgehog 3‘ beating it at the box office. So to keep the money-err, I mean, imagination going, here are six brilliant ideas for where Simba and co. can go next.

It’s a Wonderful Lion — A Very Lion King Christmas

A heartwarming holiday classic for the whole family! An angelic wildebeest gives a suicidal Zazu a glimpse of what the world would have looked like if he had never been born, launching the hornbill bureaucrat on a multiversal roadtrip through slightly different versions of fan-favorite Lion King scenes. Rowan Atkinson and John Oliver cameo as themselves in a sequence showing the dark path of the comedians’ careers after they tried and failed to secure parts in other Disney films.

The Lion King 3: The Lion Roars

True lionhearts are already plenty familiar with The Lion King II: Simba’s Pride, so why waste their time revisiting old tales? Pick up the live-action films where the animated ones left off and watch those box office dollars roll in.

The Lion Roars introduces Asani, the son of Kiara and Kovu. While his parents struggle to prepare Asani for his role as the future king of Pride Rock, the cub is far more interested in his dream of being a stand-up comedian. But when Asani’s jokes help smooth tense negotiations between two warring tribes of giraffes, his parents realize there’s more than one way to be a leader. Kiara and Kovu eventually support their son’s decision to go perform in America, where Asani becomes the lion in the MGM logo.

Slimy Yet Satisfying

A gritty, working class prequel showing audiences how younger, more idealistic versions of Timon and Pumba came to adopt their laissez-faire lifestyle. The film is a jukebox musical (obviously) where songs from Bon Jovi’s Slippery When Wet have had the lyrics changed to reflect life on the African savanna.

It’s all the same, only the seasons change
Eating grubs, we’re all but wastin’ away
Having hopes and dreams only makes you grow old
Work day and night, can’t afford no home

I’m a meerkat
On a warthog I ride
What good are worries?
We’re more dead than alive

The ManchurLion Candidate

Thrills! Intrigue! Brainwashing! The kingdom is about to move forward with democratic elections, much to the chagrin of Pride Rock’s political elite. When veteran Maj. Baboon Marco starts to suspect something is amiss with the son of an up-and-coming meerkat senator, he’s thrust into a dark web of assassination and psychological manipulation that threatens to upend this new political system before it can even begin. Marco is played by an AI approximation of Frank Sinatra because new technology always makes nostalgia better.

Mufasa vs. Jason

Disney needs a way to bring in viewers who don’t already show up for every Disney theatrical release like they’re church parishioners attending weekly service. Jason Voorhees needs a unique premise to finally justify taking the plunge on producing Friday the 13th’s thirteenth installment. Thankfully, one lion has a claw big enough to scratch both itches.

Climate change has taken a heavy toll on the Pride Lands. The animal kingdom is forced to leave in search of food, eventually making their way to a wildlife preserve in Crystal Lake, New Jersey. But an unscrupulous politician is using their new habitat as a toxic waste dump, accidentally unleashing an old evil lying dormant beneath the lake’s surface. Jason Voorhees isn’t the only dead icon coming back to life, as a shaman’s spell has also brought the great king Mufasa back from the grave. One will return balance to the Circle of Life. The other will only return to Hell.

Macbeth

The Lion King franchise has a long history of ripping off Shakespeare. Which is great! It’s educational. How many high school English teachers have used the series to introduce young minds to Hamlet (The Lion King), Romeo and Juliet (The Lion King 2), or even Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead (The Lion King 1½)? And with Joel Coen’s The Tragedy of Macbeth nabbing three nominations at the 2022 Academy Awards, there’s clearly a hunger for the bard’s infamous “Scottish play” just waiting to be tapped into.

This Macbeth is a retelling of The Lion King from the perspective of Scar. When a trio of soothsaying vultures prophecy he will one day rule Pride Rock, Scar secretly murders King Mufasa and drives Prince Simba into exile. But Scar grows increasingly paranoid after seizing power, descending gradually into madness and inspiring unrest among his subjects. This culminates in Simba’s return, where he reveals he can kill Scar because he was born via Caesarean section.

The role of Lady Macbeth will be genderswapped into a new male lion character who serves as Scar’s most trusted advisor. In keeping with tradition, Disney will heavily promote this as their first out gay couple but refuse to let the relationship be confirmed in the film itself.