Disney Sets Release Dates for Lion King and Frozen 2

The King of Pride Rock will return in the summer of 2019, but Queen Elsa will rule the winter.

Walt Disney Studios added a bit of extra magic to the “perfect date” of April 25, 2017, announcing the release dates of several upcoming films. Included in the mix were Jon Favreau’s live action adaptation of The Lion King, and the highly anticipated Frozen 2.

Favreau himself made the announcement for Lion King, tweeting a photo of the date: July 19th, 2019.

The photo draws from the original trailer for the 1994 animation, using the same red font.

The live action remake will star Donald Glover as Simba, and see the return of James Earl Jones as Mufasa. Though the 2019 film is set to be “a new reimagining,” Jones’ return likely won’t be the only callback to the original animation. During his appearance at Tribeca Film Festival this month, Favreau admitted he knows the stakes are high with the remake.

“What I’m trying to do is honor what was there,” Favreau told Scarlett Johansson. “There are certain expectations people have.”

Less than ten minutes after Favreau’s announcement, Walt Disney Animation Studios tweeted their own news, regarding the sequel to 2013’s hit Frozen.

Idina Menzel, Kristen Bell and Josh Gad are all set to reprise their roles in the sequel. Bell and Gad both tweeted their own excitement over the news.

Not much has been revealed about the plot of Frozen 2 yet, but producer Peter Del Vecho has promised some new revelations.

“Now that we’ve been involved in it for awhile, what’s exciting is it feels like it builds on the first movie,” he told EW. “You understand things better in the first movie after you’ve seen the sequel.”

The announcement officially confirms that Frozen 2 will fill one of the slate’s “Untitled Disney Animation” slots.

Next: Disney's Movie Slate Through 2019

With these announcements, plus a few others, Disney’s entire slate shuffles a bit.

Keep an eye on Culturess for our full coverage!