The Lion King | Entertainment News, Photos, and Videos

The world premiere of The Lion King occurred earlier this week in Los Angeles, and one member of the cast was noticeably missing.

Fans started to worry about James Earl Jones after the 88-year-old actor skipped out on the premiere of the film and was not featured in the promotional cast shoot. But according to director Jon Favreau, they have nothing to worry about.

“He’s based on the East Coast. This is something that takes a lot out of you to do,” Jon shared with USA Today. “So his participation was geared more toward his performance.”

James first voiced Mufasa in the 1994 animated film and reprised his role for the 2019 live-action remake.

“He was incredibly gracious to participate in this,” Jon continued. “I don’t know what I would have done had he not.”

The Lion King hits theaters on Friday, July 19th.

Billy Eichner is opening up about having more gay characters in animated movies.

The 40-year-old actor – who voices Timon in new live-action The Lion King – said in a recent interview that he wants to see more gay characters on screen that aren’t a “mystery.”

“Gay people always had to sort of search for the closeted gay character, because there were no openly gay characters, and we were so thirsty for them,” Billy shared with Buzzfeed. “People are always trying to find the gay character in animated movies. I think the way to correct that is to actually put gay characters in animated movies…One of the last frontiers for LGBT representation is animated family films.”

Billy continued: “There should just be existing openly LGBT characters so that we don’t have to keep arguing about Bert and Ernie. I don’t care if Bert and Ernie are gay. I want to see actual gay people that are not a mystery. The way to move on from all those debates is to just create openly gay characters in children’s programming and family entertainment.”

Billy then went on to set the record straight that Timon and Pumbaa – voiced by Seth Rogen in the new movie – are not a couple.

“Timon and Pumbaa are different species,” Billy shared. “I don’t even think that’s ethically correct, you know, that they would be a couple in some way.”

The Lion King hits theaters on Friday, July 19th.

Jon Favreau is opening about his time on set with Beyonce!

The 52-year-old director stopped by Jimmy Kimmel Live! on Thursday night (July 11) to promote his highly-anticipated new movie The Lion King.

PHOTOS: Check out the latest pics of Jon Favreau

“When I heard she wanted to do it, I knew I was a made man at home,” Jon said about working with Beyonce. “Because I have wife and two daughters – and they’re both teenagers – and for the first time in about four years I held their attention at dinner.”

The Lion King will be out in theaters on Friday, July 19 – you can stream the whole soundtrack here!

The entire soundtrack for The Lion King is amazing!

On top of Beyonce‘s new song “Spirit”, the 19-song soundtrack also features Donald Glover, and young stars JD McCrary, and Shahidi Wright Joseph.

There’s also a brand new song from Elton John, who worked on the original animated film soundtrack.

You can pick up a physical copy of the soundtrack on July 19th. Pre-order HERE!

Beyonce also announced a companion album for the movie, too!

Stream the full soundtrack below and go see it in theaters on July 19th!

Donald Glover is all smiles as he hits the stage for The Lion King press conference on Wednesday (July 10) in Beverly Hills, Ca;if.

The 35-year-old entertainer was joined on stage by co-stars Billy Eichner and Seth Rogen as they promoted their highly anticipated live-action Disney film.

PHOTOS: Check out the latest pics of Donald Glover

Fellow cast members at the press event included Chiwetel Ejiofor, Keegan-Michael Key, Eric Andre, Alfre Woodard, John Kani, Florence Kasumba, JD McCrary, and Shahadi Wright Joseph along with director Jon Favreau.

Skipping out on the event was Beyonce, but you can listen to her new song “Spirit” from the movie here!

The Lion King hits theaters on July 19.

FYI: Donald is wearing a Missoni t-shirt and Etro pants.

15+ pictures inside of the cast at the event…More Here! »

Halle Bailey is all she arrives at the premiere of The Lion King on Tuesday (July 9) at the Dolby Theater in Hollywod, Calif.

The 19-year-old The Little Mermaid star was joined on the red carpet by her older sister Chloe Bailey as they coordinated in black outfits.

PHOTOS: Check out the latest pics of Halle Bailey

Other stars at the premiere included Normani, Meghan Trainor and husband Daryl Sabara, black-ish stars Yara Shahidi and Marsai Martin, Raven Simone, Disney Channel actress Skai Jackson, and The Last Summer actress Maia Mitchell.

FYI: Halle is wearing a Philosophy di Lorenzo Serafini dress and Giuseppe Zanotti heels. Yara is wearing David Yurman earrings and Sophia Webster shoes. Marsai is wearing APM Monaco jewelry. Meghan is wearing Swarovski jewelry, Csarite by Alex Soldier earrings and a Csarite by David Alan ring. Skai is wearing a Cong Tri dress.

20+ pictures inside of the stars at the premiere…More Here! »

Tiffany Haddish sparkles on the red carpet at the premiere of The Lion King on Tuesday (July 9) at the Dolby Theater in Hollywood, Calif.

The 39-year-old actress rocked a dazzling red and blue suit as she buddied up with The Last O.G. co-star Tracy Morgan.

PHOTOS: Check out the latest pics of
Tiffany Haddish

Other stars at the premiere included Zooey and Emily Deschanel, Jamie Foxx, LeAnn Rimes, Eddie Cibrian and his sons Mason and Jake, Pedro Pascal, Yvette Nicole Brown, NBA pro Stephen Curry with wife Ayesha and their daughters Riley and Ryan, The Holiday actor Rufus Sewell, Chance the Rapper with pregnant wife Kirsten Corley and daughter Kensli, Jimmy Kimmel, comedian Ali Wong, The Perfection actress Logan Browning, Lena Waithe, and Chrissy Metz.

The Lion King hits theaters on July 19.

FYI: Zooey is wearing an Abodi dress. Emily is wearing an Isabel Marant dress, vintage jewels and an Edie Parker clutch.

30+ pictures inside of the stars at the premiere…More Here! »