Elton John On ‘Lion King’ Reboot: ‘A Huge Disappointment’

Elton John is currently promoting his farewell tour and his newly released memoirs, Me, and he offers a lot of controversial opinions in the book. And he hasn't run out of polarizing statements: in a new interview with GQ UK, he puts the new Lion King film - which uses his music from the original 1994 animated film.

"The new version of The Lion King was a huge disappointment to me," he said. "Because I believe they messed the music up. Music was so much a part of the original and the music in the current film didn’t have the same impact. The magic and joy were lost. The soundtrack hasn’t had nearly the same impact in the charts that it had 25 years ago, when it was the bestselling album of the year. The new soundtrack fell out of the charts so quickly, despite the massive box-office success. I wish I’d been invited to the party more, but the creative vision for the film and its music was different this time around and I wasn’t really welcomed or treated with the same level of respect. That makes me extremely sad. I’m so happy that the right spirit for the music lives on with the Lion King stage musical."

He doesn't mention anyone by name, but Beyonce, Donald Glover (aka Childish Gambino), Seth Rogan and Billy Eichner all sing on "Can You Feel The Love Tonight?"