Disney recreates iconic 'Lion King' scene in new CinemaCon footage

In Disney's own version of the circle of life, everything old is new again.

That includes The Lion King, the remake of which was teased at Disney's CinemaCon panel Wednesday.

The exclusive footage screened in the room was the new version of a familiar scene from the 1994 original, in which an excited young Simba (JD McCrary) wakes up his dad, Mufasa (James Earl Jones), to demand they go patrolling together.

The clip follows Mufasa and Simba as they climb up to survey their kingdom -- it's "everything the light touches," but definitely not the shadowy parts -- and discuss the responsibilities of ruling and the delicate balance of life and death.

They walk around until they come across Zazu (John Oliver, who seems perfectly cast), listen to him ramble about the morning report, and then have an impromptu pouncing lesson that ends with a very annoyed Zazu, a very proud Simba, and a very amused Mufasa.

All of it should feel extremely familiar to fans of the original. It's basically a beat-for-beat retelling, down to Sarabi (Alfre Woodard) sleepily grumbling to Mufasa that "before sunrise, he's your son."

Although we were warned that the sound mix and VFX weren't quite complete, what we saw looked pretty polished.

As with 2016's The Jungle Book remake, the sight of photorealistic animated animals speaking English takes some getting used to -- but also as with that movie, the details look impressive. These creatures move so precisely that it's easy to forget we're not watching real creatures at all.

If you loved the original, the new Lion King should be difficult to dismiss. It's comforting to be back in the presence of these characters again, and thrilling to see how far animation technology has advanced since we last saw them on the big screen.

But it's equally difficult to understand, at least based on what limited footage we've seen, what this new Lion King might try to offer that the original doesn't.

That said, points to Disney for picking exactly the right clip to show off at their first CinemaCon panel since the 20th Century Fox acquisition.

"Everything the light touches is our kingdom" is Mufasa explaining to Simba how far their rule reaches -- but it also seems a fairly apt description of Disney's place in the moviemaking landscape now.

The Lion King arrives July 19.