South African actors John Kani and Kagiso Lediga. The two play the same character of Rafiki on the Lion King movie. Picture: @KANI_ELDER/X
Prequel Mufasa: The Lion King has had a decent performance at the Box Office in less than a month since it opened worldwide, grossing more than $352,865,115 with South Africans contributing to the film’s success.
The figures might not be as they were for the previous Lion King film released in 2019 prior to the Covid-19 outbreak, but Mufasa: The Lion King has remained top after the festive season, fending off stiff competition from Sonic the Hedgehog 3 and other December releases.
The film earned $63.8 million across the five-day Christmas period in the US, overcoming its box office competitors.
This was the same internationally with Mufasa’s Christmas weekend hauling in another $77.1 million according to Screen Rant.
The film then earned another $10 million on New Year’s Day alone, as reported by Deadline, after topping six consecutive box office days between Christmas and the turn of the year.
ALSO READ: Soundtrack for ‘Mufasa: The Lion King’ revealed, including South African contributions [VIDEO]
The film has a historic connection to South Africa, with music producer Lebo M having been part of the original group of composers from the first Lion King movie in 1994.
Elton John, Time Rice and Zimmer are the other three who created the original score of the 30-year-old film.
“For the first time, the world will hear a new beginning of the movie which I wrote in Xhosa and I wrote alone. I’m the only one coming back since 1994 to Mufasa as a composer, now I’m teaming up with Lin-Manuel Miranda,” averred Lebo M in Cape Town.
The isiXhosa song in question is Ngomso which means tomorrow. It is the first track on the film’s soundtrack.
The soundtrack was released just before the movie came out, on 13 December.
Besides Lebo M’s musical contribution, other moments of pride for South Africans in the film come in the form of John Kani and Kagiso Lediga’s performance through their voiceover work in portraying the character of Rafiki.
The two South Africans ironically play the same character of spiritual guide mandrill, Rafiki. Kani rightfully plays the older Rafiki who narrates the story and Lediga voices the much younger Rafiki.
Lediga, who is primarily a comedian, had a chance to display his comedic side in the film through Rafiki’s snarky dialogue.
Throughout the movie, there are South African words used by the young Rafiki.
In one scene when a young Mufasa, together with Scar and Sarabi, meet Rafiki; Simba’s mother Sarabi threatens to devour Rafiki after Mufasa says they should trust the mandrill’s directions.
“Hey ntombazane (girl)…a single stick may smoke, but it will never burn,” avers Rafiki, deterring Sarabi and Scar from eating him, convincing them to trust his leading of the way.
Given his actual senior years, Kani plays the older and wiser Rafiki with ease as he narrates the story of Mufasa, to Simba’s child Kiara which is voiced by Beyoncé and Jay-Z’s daughter Blue Ivy Carter.
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