The Lion King's Rotten Tomatoes Score Using Disney Franchise's Live-Action and Story Remakes

After the strong initial reactions to the Mufasa: The Lion KingPredicting the Rotten Tomatoes movie soundtrack using the franchise's history, the performance of Disney's live-action remakes, and more factors bring a surprising result. The 2024 film is a prequel and sequel to the 2019 live-action film The Lion King directed by Jon Favreau. This time, Barry Jenkins was behind the virtual camera and was responsible for all of the animated film's major creative decisions. And although there was initially some skepticism around whether Mufasa It was a good idea, the first signs suggest it's a step forward for the franchise.

While Rotten Tomatoes scores are not the end all be all when it comes to determining whether a film is good or will be a hit, critical reception to films can still influence public opinion and signal to audiences whether they should see it in theaters. or wait until it's streaming. That's why Mufasa: The Lion KingThe early reactions being so positive are a huge win for Disney. Fears that the film is a soulless money-maker no longer have as much merit. Most importantly, it points to Mufasa: The Lion King having a strong showing on Rotten Tomatoes.

The History of the Lion King Films on Rotten Tomatoes

The original animated film kicked off the franchise on a great note

When thinking about what Mufasa: The Lion KingWhile the Rotten Tomatoes score may be, it's important to look back and see how the previous films in the franchise fared with critics. It all started in 1994 with the release of the original animated film The Lion King. Critics loved Disney's animated film thanks to its story, characters, and memorable music. Although Rotten Tomatoes was unavailable at the time of release the original film currently has a 92% score on the Tomatometer based on 139 reviews. The average score was 8.5 out of 10, which is incredibly high.

The success of the original film led Disney to expand the series with direct-to-DVD installments in The Lion King II: Simba's Pride and The Lion King 1 1/2. The sequel was released in 1998 and scored just 67% on the Tomatometer, with an average score of 6.1 out of 10 based on 12 reviews. The Timon and Pumbaa-focused film, set between the first two installments, was released in 2004 to a slightly better critical response. It has a 76% rating with an average score of 6.4 out of 10 out of 17 aggregator reviews.

After remaining “fresh” with critics for the first three animated films, The 2019 live-action remake took the franchise to “Rotten” status for the first time. Jon Favreau's film had incredible visual effects. Even so, critics were not in favor of reimagining the animated film and the animals that lacked emotion due to its photorealism. 2019 The Lion KingThe Rotten Tomatoes score sits at 51% with critics after taking into account 435 reviews. The average score is 6 out of 10, giving the live-action remake franchise low points in every critical department.

This means that Lion King The films have an average Rotten Tomatoes score of 71.5%. There are the high points of the original animated film, but there are also the low points of the live-action remake. With a 41% difference between the franchise's highest and lowest scores, there is a huge range of Mufasa: The Lion King to fall. This is with the belief that the film will not be considered worse than the 2019 film or better than the original animated film.

How Disney's Live-Action Remakes Did on Rotten Tomatoes

Live-action remakes have a spotty history on Rotten Tomatoes

Although Barry Jenkins has said he sees Mufasa: The Lion King As an animated film, the film is still part of Disney's live-action remake initiative. The studio has been making live-action remakes of its animated films for 30 years, such as The Jungle Book it was the first to happen in 1994. The strong critical response led Disney to make two poorly received films based on 101 Dalmatians in 2000, leading them to take a 10-year break from any live-action remakes.

Interest in making them again returned significantly in 2010 and Alice in Wonderlandbox office surpassing US$1 billion. 2014 Maleficent then began an ongoing series of Disney making at least one live-action remake a year. There have been some critical successes over this time, with Jon Favreau The Jungle Book in 2016, maintaining the Rotten Tomatoes record with 94% on the Tomatometer. 2015 Cinderella is the only other film to score in the 80s or higher, at 83%. Overall, just Nine of Disney's 20 Live-Action Remakes Are “Fresh” on Rotten Tomatoes.

Disney's live-action remakes have been hit or miss among critics, as the average score on Rotten Tomatoes is just 57%. If there is a silver lining for Disney to enter Mufasait could be that four of the last five live-action remakes have surpassed this average score and become “fresh” on the review aggregator. This could suggest that the studio has found a better approach to these films, including honoring the original and updating outdated elements or improving them in some areas.

Barry Jenkins' Direction Raises Mufasa: The Lion King's Rotten Tomatoes Expectations

The Mufasa director has an incredible track record with critics

The big difference for Mufasa: The Lion King in terms of critical reception, it could have had Barry Jenkins as director. He's one of the best directors in Hollywood right now and has a strong track record of delivering critically acclaimed films. To help put this into perspective, Barry Jenkins' lowest-rated film on Rotten Tomatoes still has an 85% rating on the Tomatometer. The other two films he made – including the Best Picture winning film Moonlight – have a score equal to or greater than 90%.

While Jenkins' incredible track record on Rotten Tomatoes even extends to the films he's produced or the TV shows he's been involved in, his filmography speaks for itself. The average critic score on Rotten Tomatoes for the films he has directed is 92.6%.. The surprisingly high number is one of the many reasons why MufasaBarry Jenkins' reactions are not surprising. He only directed films that critics received warmly. Even though his latest work is very different from what he's done before, his filmmaking and storytelling skills are still translatable. It seems that this is what happened to Mufasa.

Final verdict: Mufasa's Rotten Tomatoes score will be 78%

Taking the history of Lion King franchise, live-action remakes from Disney and Barry Jenkins under consideration, a general range for Mufasa: The Lion KingThe Rotten Tomatoes score gets a little clearer. To update, the Lion King films average scores close to 71%, Disney's live-action remakes average scores close to 57%, and Jenkins' films average scores near 93%. The story with Lion King and Jenkins, along with the stronger initial reactions, provide some level of confidence that MufasaThe score will be much higher than the average Disney remake.

Specifically, I think that Mufasa: The Lion KingThe Rotten Tomatoes score will be around 78% with critics. That would be the lowest mark of Jenkins' career by a notable margin, but it would still keep all of his films firmly in “Fresh” territory. With the reactions calling Mufasa an improvement compared to 2019 The Lion King In many ways, it makes sense that the score would be significantly higher than 51%. This would allow Mufasa: The Lion King have the fourth highest score among Disney's live-action remakes, which seems about right.