African safari inspires Lion King director Favreau

For most of us, it is just a daydream to quit our job, pull up stakes and travel around the world.

However, for Jon Favreau, doing just that may just have landed him the biggest project in his filmmaking career, after a six-month sabbatical to Africa earned him the director's chair on Disney's $250 million live-action remake of its 1994 animation, The Lion King.

As one of the most anticipated blockbusters this summer, the new Lion King film will open across the Chinese mainland on Friday, a week earlier than North America.