Mufasa: The Lion King director Barry Jenkins has answered to the criticisms about him teaming up with a 'soulless' Disney for The Lion King prequel story.

A social media user wrote that Barry is "too good and talented for this Iger's soulless machine". Director Jenkins replied saying, There is nothing soulless about The Lion King. For decades children have sat in theaters all over the world experiencing collective grief for the first time, engaging Shakespeare for the first time, across aisles in myriad languages. A most potent vessel for communal empathy."

Another user, who reportedly interviewed the director during the premiere of Moonlight at TIFF, wondered if the Barry Jenkins who gave an interview to him will speak the same way. He further criticised, "You can do a Disney movie for the check, in order to work on your passion projects at a later time, but you don’t have to shill like this."

In a heated reply, Jenkins shared a series of videos that he shot during his spare time while he was writing Moonlight.

While Aaron Pierre will lend his voice for the younger version of Mufasa, Kelvin Harrison Jr will voice for Scar. Others part of the cast include Seth Rogen, Billy Eichner, and John Kani as Pumbaa, Timon and Rafiki respectively.

Jeff Nathanson, the screenwriter who penned the 2019 screenplay for the previous computer-generated adaptation of The Lion King, is the scriptwriter for Mufasa: The Lion King as well.

Trailer of The Lion King origin story, which released recently, is set to hit screens on December 20, 2024. The film is a follow-up of Jon Favreau's The Lion King (2019), which almost made $1.7 billion worldwide.