INQUISITR.COM / Entertainment

‘The Lion King’ Is Back, And It’s Awesome [Video]

By Stacey Cole
Published on: 01:40 PST, Jul 5, 2015

The Lion King is back.

But, it’s not quite what you’re thinking. If you think your favourite childhood film has been given a live-action makeover by a gluttonous studio in Hollywood, relax! The Lion King remains the same, only the trailer has been tweaked to suit our more modern-day sensibilities.

As Metro reported, when Ryan Shukis decided to put his video editing skills to the test by giving The Lion King a contemporary summer release makeover, he could not have imagined the response his video was going to get. His previous videos barely reached a thousand hits, and while obviously a talented editor, Ryan was not what you would call a YouTube sensation.

All that was going to change in a matter of a few days, however.

As soon as Ryan uploaded his modern-day trailer of The Lion King on July 1, 2015, his channel has been bombarded with views and comments. And to be fair to Ryan, what he has been able to achieve in the remade trailer is quite staggering. Perhaps unconsciously, he has managed to reframe our nostalgic memories to fit within the modern-day syntax of Hollywood blockbuster cinema.

As MTV News said, the modern trailer is way more intense that the original.

The music plays a huge role, obviously. By replacing “Hakuna Matata” with the Peter Pan score, Ryan is able to make The Lion King appear like a thrilling action-adventure of sorts, which fits in with our conceptions of the genre perfectly.

Ryan, an unemployed video editor by his own confession, spends his time giving old films contemporary makeovers. His message beneath The Lion King video is a candid admission of his situation.

“Just an unemployed video editor here praying someday I’ll be video editing trailers.”

Judging by the quality of Ryan’s work, he will not remain unemployed for long.

To date, Ryan’s edited The Lion King video has received more than 540,000 views.

The Lion King video has also been trending on Twitter, with hundreds of people sharing it on their profile pages.

Meanwhile, if you still feel that The Lion King is better off with its carefree and jovial mood, here is the original video for you.

Ryan promises his fans more modern-day videos in the future.

“Hang Tight! Because I plan on conquering Toy Story in the next few weeks.”

Well, Ryan, we would like to see what you do to the relationship between Woody and Buzz Lightyear. Make it a little darker, perhaps?

[Photo: Jason Merritt / Getty Images]

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