Disney's The Lion King Remake: 8 Things They Must Do To Nail It

4. Give Jon Favreau As Much Creative Freedom As Possible

Iron Man 3 Jon Favreau
Marvel Studios

When Jon Favreau was announced as the director of the Jungle Book remake back in 2013, you'd be forgiven if you felt a little skeptical. His most recent efforts at that point - Cowboys & Aliens and Iron Man 2 - weren't exactly anything to shout home about, and besides the original Iron Man, he hadn't really flexed his big-budget chops in a successful fashion.

But, if his latest jungle caper is anything to go by, this guy is a force to be reckoned with in the directors chair - especially for this type of blockbuster - and Disney's best course of action here is to simply let him have at it.

With The Jungle Book, Favreau proved he can faithfully adapt a beloved property, handle the complexities of an entirely CGI production, work well with a rookie child actor and not buckle under the immense pressure. There's a risk that Disney - chuffed with the amount of cash The Jungle Book made - would attempt to steer The Lion King in a similar way and not let the director take any risks, which would be a huge mistake. The remake can't just be a straight adaptation - it needs to feel fresh, rejuvenated and different, and Favreau's the guy who can do that.

We've witnessed the disastrous effects that studio interference can have on a production many times before - last year's Fantastic Four, The Amazing Spider-Man 2, X-Men Origins: Wolverine - and with a lot of money and audience respect at risk, Disney would be wise to stand back, give Favreau some space and let him deliver, just like he did earlier this year.

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Danny has been with WhatCulture for over ten years, and is currently Doctor Who Editor and WhoCulture Channel Manager, overseeing all of WhatCulture's Whoniverse coverage. In 2022, he took charge of WhoCulture and has grown it into the biggest Doctor Who channel on YouTube, and one of the biggest Doctor Who communities on the web full-stop. He has been writing and video editing since his early teens, and first got a taste for content creation after making his own Doctor Who trailers, off the back of a burning obsession with the Matt Smith era of the show. Like many his age, he first got into Doctor Who with the 2005 revival, but has since gone back and fallen in love with the classic years too. If you need someone to recite every Doctor Who episode in order, or to give you a random factoid about the making of Gridlock, Danny is the person to ask!