An elaborate origin story with new musical numbers by Lin-Manuel Miranda, “Mufasa: The Lion King” looks poised to be another Disney holiday hit.

Miranda has a long, productive history songwriting for Disney, from the 2016 “Moana,” various “Star Wars” entries, “Mary Poppins Returns,” “Encanto” and the live action “The Little Mermaid” remake.

Thirty years ago, in 1994, the traditionally animated “The Lion King” musical movie became a towering hit, thanks to its Elton John score, exotic African setting, vivid characters, and “Circle of Life” theme.

It spawned the still long-running Broadway hit with an expanded score and in 2019 a CGI version where James Earl Jones reprised his role as Mufasa and Seth Rogen and Billy Eichner, who are both in this new “Mufasa,” first assumed the comic relief roles of, respectively, Pumbaa and Timon.

Mufasa, introduced as a young orphan cub, is voiced by Aaron Pierre. Kelvin Harrison, Jr. does Taka, who becomes the villain Scar.

Miranda’s biggest challenge musically — being compared to the original.

“Oh man, that original ’94 soundtrack is an immortal,” he began in a virtual press conference, “It’s like no skips from Elton John and Tim Rice who did the songs, and then Hans Zimmer’s incredible score. If it had just been that first movie, I would have been very intimidated.

“But there’s been an entire world of ‘Lion King’ music, with the incredible Broadway musical. There’s Beyonce’s album, ‘The Gift,’ which expanded the vocabulary of what a ‘Lion King’ song could sound like.

“So, it felt like just this amazing world to play in. My secret weapon was Lebo M, who is the first voice you hear on that original film. I knew his choral arrangements and his incredible choir were going to raise whatever I wrote to the next level.

“Working with him and Mark Mancina, who I worked with on ‘Moana,’ I knew I had incredible talent in my corner that would help us get to that ‘Lion King’ level.”

As for how to decide which characters sing, “It’s really 90 percent in Jeff Nathanson’s script,” Miranda, 44, discovered. “Jeff took such care to make space for the music to carry the ball and carry the emotional real estate.

“I’m amazed at the things music got to do in this movie. And most of them were there to the point where most of the song titles actually began as lines of dialogue!

“When I read the script and Taka says, ‘I have a secret. I always wanted a brother’ — and he makes a sacrifice so that he could have a brother — I had that first lump in my throat, And I was like, ‘That’s a song title!’”

“Mufasa: The Lion King” is in theaters Dec. 20

A scene from “Mufasa: The Lion King.” (Photo Disney)