Disney has unveiled an exclusive look at the upcoming animated film Mufasa: The Lion King during its 2024 annual shareholders’ meeting.
Disney’s annual shareholders’ meeting for 2024 made waves because of an attempted takeover by some of its “activist” investors. It was also a time for numerous project sneak peeks and reveals. One of these revelations involved the upcoming prequel to 2019’s Lion King, Mufasa: The Lion King.
During the meeting, Disney showed an image of a young lion cub standing on top of Pride Rock and looking out over the Pride Lands. This cub is not the protagonist of the first film, Simba, but his father, Mufasa, who died in the original after being betrayed by his brother, Scar.
The screenshot does not show any supporting characters, and no other details were unveiled to the attending shareholders. What is known, however, is that Aaron Pierre will replace James Earl Jones as the voice of the King of the Pride Lands, and Kelvin Harrison Jr. will return as Scar.
Disney also previously revealed the film, which will be directed by Barry Jenkins, to attendees of last year’s D23 Expo.
The House of Mouse faced an aborted takeover of its Board of Directors when Trian Partners and Blackwell Capital attempted to elect their five nominees during the meeting. However, none of these nominees, including the firebrand Nelson Peltz, made it to the Board, as incumbent Chief Executive Officer Bob Iger and 12 current directors were reelected instead.
Peltz had led an aggressive campaign calling for a change to the company’s Board, citing the poor performance of Disney’s stock over the last few years and the succession planning that installed Bob Chapek in a short-lived stint as CEO.