Though the recent remake of Disney's The Lion King was billed as a 'live-action' version of the beloved animated classic, it was actually all created with CGI. Well, almost every shot of the movie was created with CGI. Jon Favreau, the director of the box office hit, just revealed that a single shot of The Lion King was a real-life shot, sneakily added to the movie without anybody in the audience knowing. Until now, that is.
Favreau revealed the fun fact on his Instagram account on recently, surprising fans who had already seen the movie and didn't pick up on the difference. "This is the only real shot in The Lion King. There are 1490 rendered shots created by animators and CG artists. I slipped in one single shot that we actually photographed in Africa to see if anyone would notice. It is the first shot of the movie that begins The Circle of Life," Favreau's caption read.
One fan was so taken with the film's life like animation, he replied to Favreau's post saying he was convinced a completely different shot was the real one. "God damn, Jon I thought it was the shot of the mouse that Scar wants to eat. I was fooled I thought it was real. Also some shots of Simba and Mufasa I was convinced it was a real lion. CG has come a long way," he wrote.
Though some critics were perturbed by just how life like the animation in 2019's The Lion King really is - a critic at IndieWire called the film “a disastrous plunge into the uncanny valley” - audiences appear to love it. The Lion King topped the box office for two weekends in a row, earning $75 million in its second weekend alone.
Photo: Disney