American singer Beyonce and Hong Kong’s Cantopop King Jacky Cheung are collaborating for the first time, in a duet for the new Lion King movie.
Disney’s The Lion King premiered in Chinese cinemas last Saturday, and Beyonce, who lends her voice to the lion queen Nala in the remade and enhanced animal adventure, recently recorded the theme song Can You Feel The Love Tonight with Cheung specially for Chinese viewers.
Entertainment portal Jayne Stars reported yesterday that fans of Cheung and Beyonce in China and Hong Kong have hailed their team-up as the “collaboration of the century”.
Beyonce performed the official American version of Can You Feel The Love Tonight with American singer Donald Glover, and it was released early this year. Glover lends his voice to the title character, Simba.
Can You Feel The Love Tonight was released in 1994 to great popularity, and won Best Original Song at the Oscars and Golden Globe Awards that year. Its writer and composer, British singer Sir Elton John also won Best Male Pop Vocal Performer at the Grammy Awards.
The remake of The Lion King is a photorealistic computer-animated musical drama directed and produced by Jon Favreau, and also features the voices of actors Seth Rogen, Chiwetel Ejiofor and James Earl Jones.
The film was originally released in 1994 with traditional animation, with music written and composed by John and Tim Rice.
The Lion King tells the story of Simba, a young lion who is to succeed his father, Mufasa, as King of the Pride Lands. However, after Simba’s paternal uncle Scar murders Mufasa, Simba is manipulated into thinking he was responsible and flees into exile.
After growing up in exile, Simba learns the truth about his past from his father’s baboon friend Rafiki and his childhood sweetheart Nala, and returns to challenge Scar and take his place as the rightful King.
In Hong Kong, The Lion King collected 270 million Hong Kong Dollars (RM142 million) in two days.
Beyonce at the European Premiere
