“The Jungle Book” was only the beginning for Jon Favreau.
With “The Lion King,” the director has made an industry game-changer: the first keyframe-animated movie shot on a virtual reality set with a live-action aesthetic.
Indeed, thanks to its innovative use of Vr for world building and camera layout, and stunning photorealism by Oscar-winning VFX studio Mpc, “The Lion King” essentially removes the divide between live action and animation.Favreau, though, refuses to classify it, hoping audiences will experience “The Lion King” as though it were live action.
In reality, it’s the latest virtual production advancement spearheaded by Oscar-winning VFX supervisor Rob Legato.
Meanwhile, Disney continues to market it as a unique hybrid (likely ruling out a Best Animated Feature Oscar campaign in favor of a Visual Effects push).However, when asked to ponder “The Lion King” as a landmark in naturalistic animation, Favreau partially conceded that it was probably on the right track.
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