The epic storytelling of Disney’s The Lion King continues with The Lion Guard: Return of the Roar, a television movie event that premiered on March 20 on Disney Channel in Southeast Asia. The movie follows Kion, the second-born cub of Simba and Nala, as he assumes the role of leader of The Lion Guard, a team of animals tasked with preserving the Pride Lands. The movie leads into The Lion Guard television series, which premiered April 17 also on Disney Channel.
The Lion Guard: Return of the Roar features an all-star voice cast, which includes James Earl Jones and Ernie Sabella reprising their memorable roles from The Lion King as Mufasa and Pumbaa, respectively, alongside Rob Lowe as Simba and Gabrielle Union as Nala. Max Charles stars as Kion. The voice cast also includes Joshua Rush as Bunga; Atticus Shaffer as Ono; Diamond White as Fuli; and Dusan Brown as Beshte.
Set in the African Savanna, The Lion Guard: Return of the Roar follows Kion as he assembles the members of the Lion Guard. Traditionally, The Lion Guard comprised of the bravest and strongest lions in the Pride Lands. However, Kion defies tradition by calling upon some of his friends who typically wouldn’t have made the cut. From Kion’s best friend Bunga, a fearless honey badger, to Ono, an intellectual egret, to Fuli, a confident cheetah, and to Beshte, a friendly and good-spirited hippo, the newly formed Lion Guard is a rag tag group of unlikely heroes, united in their purpose to protect the Pride Lands. Throughout the movie and the series, the team will learn to utilize each of their unique abilities as they face new adventures in upholding the balance within the Circle of Life.
In anticipation of the movie and series launch, the search is on for kids across Southeast Asia to showcase their very best lion roars, no matter how big or small, via the “Show Us Your Roar” campaign on the Disney Channel Asia Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/DisneyChannelAsia). Kids who submit their roars stand a chance to have their video aired on Disney Channel during the premiere of “The Lion Guard: Return of the Roar”!
The Lion Guard: Return of the Roar and The Lion Guard series will also air on Disney Junior later on in the year.
Ford Riley (Special Agent Oso) developed the movie and series and serves as executive producer. Howy Parkins (Jake and the Never Land Pirates) is the director.
★★★★★
D5 Studio bares content platforms with ‘Press Play’ launch
One year after being launched as Digital 5, the digital support team of MediaQuest, it has evolved into D5 Studio, a multi-platform, multi-discipline, and multi-channel creation network that produces digital content, innovative tools and experiences.
With the promise of “building and nurturing experiences for the empowered, fluid, and vocal generation,” D5 Studio has vastly expanded its content platforms to three major components.
D5 Studio Originals focuses on producing original digital content on entertainment and music that seeks to connect with audiences by telling the different stories of the Filipino youth.
“Our D5 Studio Originals showcases a new breed of digital programming that is braving the online content landscape with unconventional show themes and formats,” explains D5 Studio Vice President and Head Lloyd Manaloto.
Another important component of D5 Studio is GG Network, which aims to bring together the country’s top game streamers, local publishers and international game distributors to bring you the best in local and international gaming content and eSports events.
“We take gaming to a whole new level,” Manaloto enthused.
Gamers might be familiar to such networks and gaming portals like PlayPark, Blizzard Entertainment, Garena, XPlay, GameX, XSplit Gamecaster, Mineski, Twitch, Azubu and YouTube.
Finally, there’s uLOLS, the humor platform of D5 Studio that aims to produce relevant and sharable original content (e.g. articles, memes, videos, photos) on Pinoy culture and today’s trends.
“uLOLS has some of the most share-able and talked about videos and memes online,” Manaloto exclaimed.
In addition to its three content platforms, D5 Studio is also partnering with Hopscotch, a mobile platform developer for events, sports teams, and brands.
“The Hopscotch-powered Sports5 mobile portal created a next-level league for PBA fans, as it provides news and video on demand with behind-the-scenes coverage and game highlights,” Manaloto further shared.
D5 Studio’s diverse new offerings are signs that the platform can only get better in time.
“Content creation is only the beginning. We will constantly produce and propagate with our audiences in mind as we intend to continue championing their creativity and diversity,” Manaloto concluded.