'The Lion King' Is The Second Most Watched Teaser In 24 Hours, See It Compared To The Original

While everyone was feasting on Thanksgiving food last week, Walt Disney Studios decided to drop the first teaser trailer for the upcoming "live-action" version of The Lion King, giving a photorealistic makeover to the animated classic from 1994. Not only is the teaser quite breathtaking, especially when it comes to the incredible visual effects used to bring the animals to life, but it's now the second most watched teaser trailer debut in the first 24 hours.

The Lion King teaser trailer recreates the opening moments from the original film, and you can see just how loyally the remake sticks to the visuals of its animated predecessor, which is both impressive and a little disconcerting. Check out The Lion King trailer comparison below.

As you can see, there aren't many differences between the shots used in the photoreal remake of The Lion King, which makes one question just how the new film will standout from the original outside of the truly stunning visual effects work. After all, having recently rewatched The Lion King in its entirety for the first time in years, I can tell you that it's still the perfect Disney movie, and giving it this kind of update without doing something to make it stand out from the original feels unnecessary.

Anyway, curiosity got the better of all the families gathered around the table when the trailer dropped on Thursday night. In the first 24 hours, The Lion King teaser racked up 224.6 million views around the world. Technically, that's Disney's most watched trailer in a single day and the second most watched teaser in 24 hours ever. However, the record holder happens to be Avengers: Infinity War with 238 million views. And while that's not technically a Disney movie, Marvel Studios still falls under the House of Mouse banner.

The Lion King is easily one of the most anticipated films in Disney's line-up of remakes of the animated classics. And with a cast that brings back James Earl Jones as Mufasa, not to mention Donald Glover as Simba and Beyonce as Nala, who can blame audiences for at least being incredible curious about the movie that director Jon Favreau is putting together?

The rest of the cast of The Lion King remake includes Chiwetel Ejiofor as Scar, Alfre Woodard as Simba's mother Sarabi, John Oliver as Zazu, John Kani as Rafiki, Florence Kasumba as Shenzi, Eric André as Azizi, Billy Eichner and Seth Rogen as Timon and Pumbaa, and JD McCrary and Shahadi Wright Joseph will play young Simba and young Nala.

The Lion King hits theaters next summer on July 19, 2019.