Here are a bunch of little bites to satisfy your hunger for movie culture:

 

Video Essay of the Day

Disney’s remake of The Lion King broke box office records over the weekend, meaning the two versions of the movie are among the highest-grossing animated movies of all time. Why is it so appealing? This video essay from The Take argues that it’s the darker side of The Lion King that makes it so successful:

 

Director Commentary of the Day

Jon Favreau had a daunting task as director of The Lion King, as there were certain things he needed to get right with the remake. For Vanity Fair, the filmmaker breaks down how he achieved the opening sequence in the new version so that it was faithful to the animated feature but also had a documentary sensibility:

 

Movie Comparison of the Day

Did you know the new Lion King isn’t the first remake of the 1994 animated classic? Well, sort of. Ten years after its release, The Lion King was redone as The Lion King 1½ (a.k.a. The Lion King 3), which retells the whole story of the original just from the perspective of Timon and Pumbaa. This video from Dimitreze compares scenes shown the two different ways, side by side:

 

Song Parody of the Day

Pixar’s Toy Story 4 introduced the world to a brand new Disney icon: Forky. Such a memorable character deserves his own theme song, and fortunately Aaron Fraser-Nash has a trash-focused one for us care of KingHenryTheEtch sung to the tune of “Work” by Rihanna with Drake:

 

Congratulations of the Day

While The Lion King’s record-breaking opening has taken over the box office news this week, Avengers: Endgame also hit a milestone by becoming the all-time highest-grossing movie worldwide. So James Cameron and his previous champion, Avatar, congratulated the Marvel movie for taking the crown:

 

Cosplay of the Day

In honor of Avengers: Endgame finally dethroning Avatar as the all-time highest-grossing movie worldwide over the weekend, plus all the announcements about the next phase of the Marvel Cinematic Universe at Comic-Con, here’s a fan cosplaying as the Big Lebowski-like version of Thor:

 

Filmmaker in Focus

In anticipation of the release of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood this week, ScreenRant look back through the works of writer/director Quentin Tarantino for some trivia you likely aren’t familiar with. Here are a ton of hidden secrets you missed in everything from Pulp Fiction to Django Unchained:

 

Actor in the Spotlight

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood stars Brad Pitt as one of its two leading men, a role that reunites the actor with Tarantino after Inglorious Basterds. What movies has Pitt missed out on over the years? IMDb looks at the parts he turned down or failed to book, including The Matrix and The Shawshank Redemption:

 

Movie Experts of the Day

While we’re talking about Tarantino movies, how about a video that focuses specifically on Pulp Fiction? For Vanity Fair, choreographers Lauren Yalango-Grant and Christopher Grant break down the iconic dance scene with Uma Thurman and John Travolta at Jack Rabbit Slims:

 

Classic Movie Trailer of the Day

As we wait a few more days for the release of Tarantino’s next and potentially penultimate movie, let’s look back on the one that started his career. Courtesy of Movieclips, here’s the original trailer for Reservoir Dogs, which opened in limited release in the U.S. on October 23, 1992: