25 years later, 'The Lion King' roars again (with Beyoncé)

It was just a few months ago that director Jon Favreau was sitting in a scoring session with composer Hans Zimmer for "The Lion King," his ambitious and technology-driven reimagining of the 1994 animated classic, and he and everyone else in the room were getting a little emotional.

It's no wonder: They were recording the music for the stampede (yes, THAT stampede).

"Working on it doesn't make it any less emotional," Favreau said in an interview earlier this year.

This image released by Disney shows, from left, young Simba, voiced by JD McCrary, Timon, voiced by Billy Eichner, and Pumbaa, voiced by Seth Rogen, in a scene from "The Lion King." (Disney via AP)

And don't even get him started on what it was like to listen to James Earl Jones record his lines as Mufasa.

"The Lion King" is three years in the making with some of the biggest names in entertainment, including Beyoncé, and the expectations couldn't be higher. None of the other major studios have even dared to go up against it in theaters this weekend. Early tracking suggest that it could make as much as $150 million in its first weekend in North America, and it's already grossed over $55 million in China.

It helps, of course, that the material is familiar to most of the world already. The animated film, which opened in June 1994 at the peak of the Disney animation renaissance, went on to become a critical hit, the highest grossing film of the year at the worldwide box office (it was second domestically to "Forrest Gump"), a two-time Oscar winner for Zimmer's score and the song "Can You Feel the Love Tonight," and a Broadway show — now the third-longest running and one of the most successful in history. So it was only a matter of time before the Walt Disney Co., in this new era of live-action remakes of its animated library which this year included both "Dumbo" and "Aladdin," turned to one of its most beloved.

This image released by Disney shows, from left, young Simba, voiced by JD McCrary, young Nala, voiced by Shahadi Wright Joseph, and Zazu, voiced by John Oliver, in a scene from "The Lion King." (Disney via AP)

Favreau wasn't even finished with his version of "The Jungle Book" when he started inquiring about plans for "The Lion King." He'd learned so much about motion capture technology and had a team he knew how to collaborate with. He was ready to take it to the next level. So, he raised his hand for the big job.

"I kind of lobbied for it," Favreau said.

The studio waited until "The Jungle Book" was out to give him the official word, but the 2016 movie which scored with both critics and audiences, turned out to be a pretty good audition. And he set to work prepping this "live-action" ''Lion King," which, it should be said isn't live-action at all. It's a combination of virtual reality and "keyframe animation," which means that the animals are all animated by hand, "just like all the old animated movies," Favreau explained. In other words, if you visited the set, you would not find some gargantuan soundstage and a bunch of actors running around acting like lions while covered in motion capture bodysuits and dots.

This image released by Disney shows Scar, voiced by Chiwetel Ejiofor, in a scene from "The Lion King." (Disney via AP)

Rather, it was more of a "black box with people wearing headsets and VR goggles."

The VR was used to "drive the camera" and "instead of just one layout artist on a computer, we had a full crew operating virtual cameras in a virtual reality environment," he said.

That includes esteemed cinematographer Caleb Deschanel, a six-time Oscar nominee.

This image released by Disney shows characters, from left, Zazu, voiced by John Oliver, and young Simba, voiced by JD McCrary, in a scene from "The Lion King." (Disney via AP)

The resulting special effect is that "It should feel like a live-action movie," he said, even if it's technically animated.

For the cast, which includes Donald Glover as Simba, Beyoncé as Nala, Chiwetel Ejiofor as Scar, Seth Rogen as Pumbaa and Billy Eichner as Timon, the process was pretty similar to what they would have done for a traditionally animated movie, but Favreau also filmed the actors during their voice recording sessions to help the animators. He knew it would look to weird to try to translate human expressions onto the cats' faces so instead emotion is conveyed through body language (and a little mouth moving for the dialogue).

Anyone who's seen the marketing thus far has no doubt recognized some familiar touchstones from the 1994 film. So familiar, in fact, that many have wondered if it was going to be a shot-for-shot remake. Favreau said that isn't the case.

Bob Iger, left, chairman and CEO of The Walt Disney Company, poses with "The Lion King" cast member Beyonce, center, and the film's director Jon Favreau at the premiere of the film at the El Capitan Theatre, Tuesday, July 9, 2019, in Los Angeles. (Photo by Chris PizzelloInvisionAP)

"It diverges quite a bit," he said. "It's much longer than the original film. And part of what we're doing here is to (give it more dimension) not just visually but both story wise and emotionally."

The main story points are the same, but like the stage musical, there will be differences too. Plus, he wanted to capitalize on the uniqueness of his actors.

With Beyoncé, for instance, he even changed the way he directed her and approached her animation after seeing her stage show and all the personas she channels for each song.

Beyonce arrives at the world premiere of "The Lion King" on Tuesday, July 9, 2019, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. (Photo by Chris PizzelloInvisionAP)

"Nala is a very powerful character who's a warrior and also has a big heart and encapsulates a lot of different archetypes," he said. "I wanted the way she was choreographed and with lions and the fight scenes to have a resonance with the power with which (Beyoncé) choreographs her stage show."

And of course there's the music, which is just as important as the images in conjuring up all the emotion and nostalgia associated with the original.

Zimmer has updated and built upon his own score from 25 years ago, which will also integrate music from the stage show and the 2D film.

Director Jon Favreau poses for photographers upon arrival at the 'Lion King' European premiere in central London, Sunday, July 14, 2019. (Photo by Joel C RyanInvisionAP)

"It's quite a lush version of the soundtrack and the score," Favreau said.

There will be some recognizable songs, including "Can You Feel the Love Tonight," ''Hakuna Matata," ''Be Prepared," ''I Just Can't Wait to Be King" and "Circle of Life," plus some new ones too .

And the hope is that this version resonates not only with the generations that grew up with "The Lion King," but with a new batch of kids as well who may be experiencing it for the first time this way.

"It's about the life cycle and coming of age and saying goodbye and all the things that we all deal with," Favreau said. "It's not a story that's often told but it's a story that's probably the most universal story there is."

Follow AP Film Writer Lindsey Bahr on Twitter: www.twitter.com/ldbahr

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A big, new package of U.S. military aid will help Ukraine avoid defeat in its war with Russia. Winning will still be a long slog.

The arms and ammunition in the $61 billion military aid package should enable Ukraine to slow the Russian army's bloody advances and block its strikes on troops and civilians. And it will buy Ukraine time — for long-term planning about how to take back the fifth of the country now under Russian control.

“Ultimately it offers Ukraine the prospect of staying in the war this year,” said Michael Clarke, visiting professor in war studies at King’s College London. “Sometimes in warfare you’ve just got to stay in it. You’ve just got to avoid being rolled over.”

The U.S. House of Representatives approved the package on Saturday after months of delays by some Republicans wary of U.S. involvement overseas. It was passed by the Senate on Tuesday, and President Joe Biden said he would sign it Wednesday.

The difference could be felt within days on the front line in eastern and southern Ukraine, where Russia’s much larger army has been slowly taking territory against massively outgunned Ukrainian forces.

The aid approval means Ukraine may be able to release artillery ammunition from dwindling stocks that it has been rationing. More equipment will come soon from American stocks in Poland and Germany, and later from the U.S.

The first shipments are expected to arrive by the beginning of next week, said Davyd Arakhamia, a lawmaker with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s Servant of the People party.

But opposition lawmaker Vadym Ivchenko, a member of the Ukrainian parliament’s National Security, Defense and Intelligence Committee, said logistical challenges and bureaucracy could delay shipments to Ukraine by two to three months, and it would be even longer before they reach the front line.

While details of the shipments are classified, Ukraine’s most urgent needs are artillery shells to stop Russian troops from advancing, and anti-aircraft missiles to protect people and infrastructure from missiles, drones and bombs.

What’s coming first is not always what front-line commanders need most, said Arakhamia, the Ukrainian lawmaker. He said that even a military giant like the U.S. does not have stockpiles of everything.

“The logic behind this first package was, you (the U.S.) finds our top priorities and then you see what you have in the warehouses,” Arakhamia said. “And sometimes they do not match.”

Hope for future breakthroughs for Ukraine still hangs on more timely deliveries of Western aid, lawmakers acknowledge.

Many experts believe that both Ukraine and Russia are exhausted by two years of war and won’t be able to mount a major offensive — one capable of making big strategic gains — until next year.

Still, Russia is pushing forward at several points along the 1,000-kilometer (600-mile) front, using tanks, wave after wave of infantry troops and satellite-guided gliding bombs to pummel Ukrainian forces. Russia is also hitting power plants and pounding Ukraine’s second-largest city, Kharkiv, which is only about 30 kilometers (some 20 miles) from the Russian border.

Ivchenko said the goal for Ukraine’s forces now is to “hold the line” until the bulk of new supplies arrive by mid-summer. Then, they can focus on trying to recapture territory recently lost in the Donetsk region.

“And probably ... at the end of summer we’ll see some movement, offensive movement of the Ukrainian armed forces,” he said.

Some military experts doubt Ukraine has the resources to mount even small offensives very soon.

The U.S. funding “can probably only help stabilize the Ukrainian position for this year and begin preparations for operations in 2025,” said Matthew Savill, director of military sciences at the Royal United Services Institute, a think tank.

In the best-case scenario for Ukraine, the American aid will give commanders time to reorganize and train its army — applying lessons learned from its failed summer 2023 offensive. It may also galvanize Ukraine’s allies in Europe to increase aid.

“So this just wasn’t about Ukraine and the United States, this really affected our entire 51-country coalition,” said U.S. Congressman Bill Keating, a Democrat who visited Kyiv on Monday as part of a four-member congressional delegation.

Zelenskyy insists Ukraine's war aim is to recapture all its territory from Russia — including Crimea, seized illegally in 2014. Even if the war ultimately ends through negotiation, as many experts believe, Ukraine wants to do that from as strong a position as possible.

Whatever happens on the battlefield, Ukraine still faces variables beyond its control.

Former U.S. President Donald Trump, who seeks to retake the White House in the November election, has said he would end the war within days of taking office. And the 27-nation Europe Union includes leaders like Hungarian President Viktor Orbán and Slovakian Prime Minister Richard Fico, who have opposed arming Ukraine.

Ukraine’s allies have held back from supplying some arms out of concern about escalation or depleting their own stocks. Ukraine says that to win the war it needs longer-range missiles it could use for potentially game-changing operations such as cutting off occupied Crimea, where's Russia's Black Sea fleet is based.

It wants Army Tactical Missile Systems, known as ATACMs, from the U.S. and Taurus cruise missiles from Germany. Both governments have resisted calls to send them because they are capable of striking targets deep within Russian territory.

The new bill authorizes the president to send Ukraine ATACMS “as soon as practicable.” It's unclear what that will mean in practice.

Sometimes, promised weapons have arrived late, or not at all. Zelenskyy recently pointed out that Ukraine is still waiting for the F-16 fighter jets it was promised a year ago.

Meanwhile, Russia is using its advantage in troops and weapons to push back Ukrainian forces, perhaps seeking to make maximum gains before Ukraine's new supplies arrive.

For weeks it has pummeled the small eastern city of Chasiv Yar, at the cost of 900 soldiers killed and wounded a day, according to the U.K. Ministry of Defense.

Capturing the strategically important hill town would allow them to move toward Sloviansk and Kramatorsk, key cities Ukraine controls in the eastern region of Donetsk. It would be a significant win for Russian President Vladimir Putin, who Western officials say is bent on toppling Ukraine’s pro-Western government.

Russian pressure was aimed not just at gaining territory, but on undermining Zelenskyy and bolstering critics who say his war plan is failing, said Clarke of King's College London.

The U.S. aid package decreases the likelihood of a political crisis in Ukraine, and U.S. Speaker Mike Johnson deserves credit for pushing it through Congress, he said.

"He held history in his hands,” Clarke said.

Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

From left, U.S. representatives Nathaniel Moran, R-Tx, Tom Kean Jr, R-NJ, Bill Keating, D-Mass, and Madeleine Deane, D-Pa, talk to journalists during a joint news conference outside Saint Michael cathedral in Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, April 22, 2024. A newly approved package of $61 billion in U.S. aid may prevent Ukraine from losing its war against Russia. But winning it will be a long slog. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

A volunteer makes a camouflage net at a facility producing material for Ukrainian soldiers in Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, April 22, 2024. A newly approved package of $61 billion in U.S. aid may prevent Ukraine from losing its war against Russia. But winning it will be a long slog. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

Davyd Arakhamia, a lawmaker with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's Servant of the People party, talks during an interview with Associated Press in Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, April 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

A woman rallies to raise awareness on the fate of Ukrainian prisoners of war in Kyiv, Ukraine, Sunday, April 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

Ribbons with the colors of the European Union and Ukraine are attached to a tree next to memorial wall of Ukrainian soldiers killed during the war in Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, April 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

The body of a woman killed by Russian bombardment in Chernihiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, April 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

Soldiers carry the coffins of two Ukrainian army sergeants during their funeral in Lviv, Ukraine, Tuesday, April 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)