Why Jon Favreau Isnt Directing The Lion King 2

Why Jon Favreau Isn’t Directing The Lion King 2

The Lion King 2 is officially in the works with Barry Jenkins confirmed to direct. Here’s why Jon Favreau isn’t returning for the sequel.

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Why Jon Favreau Isnt Directing The Lion King 2

Disney is making a sequel to the live-action The Lion King, but here’s why Jon Favreau isn’t directing The Lion King 2. The original Lion King is among Disney’s most beloved animated movies and brought great expectations for the “live-action” adaptation. The Lion King played a big part in Disney’s record-setting box office performance in 2019 as it made over $1.6 billion worldwide, even on mixed reviews.

The financial success of The Lion King all but guaranteed that Disney would find some new way to explore the still massively popular IP. This will be done with The Lion King 2 announced as a prequel/sequel that will explore Mufasa’s origins and more. News of the movie still came as a surprise, but the biggest takeaway is that it will be directed by Barry Jenkins. The Moonlight and If Beale Street Could Talk director has proven to be one of Hollywood’s most talented active filmmakers in recent years. But, this does mean that Favreau won’t be back behind the camera.

The reasoning for Jon Favreau not returning to direct The Lion King 2 has yet to be revealed, but it could simply come down to scheduling and his priorities. Favreau is among the busiest people in Hollywood and is currently shepherding the present and future of Star Wars with The Mandalorian. There are unofficial plans for season 3, and maybe season 4, and it would be shocking for the show to continue without Favreau being heavily involved. In addition to writing all the scripts, he also directed an episode in season 2 and could do the same in future seasons. Since The Mandalorian is so far the only hit Disney+ has had, Favreau keeping his focus on his other wildly popular Disney property makes sense.

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Favreau’s schedule is also still quite busy beyond The Mandalorian. He is currently finishing up his first video game and continues to film new episodes of The Chef Show for Netflix. And with the technological innovations he’s helped spearhead to make The Lion King and The Mandalorian, his efforts could continue to skew in that direction. There were also plans for Favreau to direct The Jungle Book 2 at some point, but whether or not that will happen remains to be seen.

That said, there’s also the chance that Favreau wasn’t interested in returning to direct The Lion King 2 or that it was mutually agreed that it would be better for someone else to take over. Even though the movie was a huge financial success, it did receive a mixed response from critics and general audiences. The addition of Barry Jenkins provides The Lion King 2 with a more exciting choice behind the camera to craft and execute this story.

It isn’t even known at this point if Jon Favreau will have any role to play in The Lion King 2. While one would think that he will produce the sequel, that has not been confirmed. He received a producer credit on several Marvel Cinematic Universe films after he stopped directing them, and he could still be a helpful presence for Jenkins with The Lion King 2. The movie will presumably stick to the virtual production model Favreau set up for the first film. Jenkins hasn’t directed anything quite like The Lion King 2 before, so Favreau’s experience with virtual productions would make him a good resource for Jenkins.

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Link Source : https://screenrant.com/lion-king-2-jon-favreau-not-direct-reason/

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