The Lion King Wikipedia pages part 4

 

The Lion King 1½
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Jump to: navigation, search


The Lion King 1½
Lion king 1 half cover.jpg
DVD cover
 
Directed by
Bradley Raymond
Produced by
George A. Mendoza
Screenplay by
Tom Rogers
Story by
Roger Allers
Irene Mecchi
 Bill Steinkiller
 Raymond Singer
 Evan Spiliotopoulos
Starring
Nathan Lane
Ernie Sabella
Julie Kavner
Jerry Stiller
Matthew Broderick
 Robert Guillaume
Moira Kelly
Whoopi Goldberg
Cheech Marin
Jim Cummings
Edward Hibbert
Matt Weinberg
Music by
Don Harper
Edited by
Joyce Arrastia
Production
 company
Walt Disney Pictures
DisneyToon Studios
Sparx Animation Studios
 
Distributed by
Walt Disney Home Entertainment
Release dates
February 10, 2004
 
Running time
77 minutes
Country
United States
Language
English
The Lion King 1½ is a 2004 direct-to-video animated film produced by Walt Disney Pictures and DisneyToon Studios and released by Walt Disney Home Entertainment on February 10, 2004. The film was also theatrically released internationally and in selected cities in the United States. It is the third and final installment in the Lion King trilogy. The DVD went to the Disney Vault in January 2004. The film follows characters Timon and Pumbaa and their involvement surrounding the original film, The Lion King.
The original cast returns to re-voice their parts, save for a few exceptions: Rowan Atkinson (the original voice of Zazu) was again replaced by Edward Hibbert; Jonathan Taylor Thomas (originally Young Simba) is replaced by Matt Weinberg; and James Earl Jones and Jeremy Irons (Mufasa and Scar respectively) did not reprise their roles.
The Lion King 1½ was released on Blu-ray in The Lion King trilogy box set on October 4, 2011, and was released for individual sale on March 6, 2012 alongside The Lion King II: Simba's Pride. The Blu-ray and DVD releases, along with the previous sequel and the Diamond Edition release of the first film, went into moratorium on April 30, 2013.[citation needed]


Contents  [hide]
1 Plot
2 Voice Cast
3 Production
4 Release 4.1 Home video
5 Reception
6 Soundtrack
7 Awards
8 Video game
9 References
10 External links

Plot[edit]
The film is told through the perspective of Timon and Pumbaa through the literary device known as a frame story. The two are shown watching the original film, The Lion King, being shown in silhouette commenting on the movie being shown before them, in a style nearly identical to that of Mystery Science Theater 3000.
They quickly stop the film and rewind it so they can show their side of the story, occasionally stopping the footage to talk with one another. Timon shows Pumbaa the meerkat's backstory, revealing him to be an outcast in his colony on the outskirts of the Pridelands. While supported by his mother Ma, Timon (who unable to fit in with the others) wished for more in life and left the colony after the meerkats and Uncle Max are nearly eaten by hyenas Shenzi, Banzai and Ed. He meets the mandrill Rafiki who advises him to find his place in the world via Hakuna Matata and to "look beyond what you see". After observing Pride Rock in the distance and deciding to venture there, Timon wanders into some long grass and meets Pumbaa for the first time, both becoming friends very quickly.
The pair arrive at Pride Rock during Simba's presentation to the Pridelands' animals. However, Pumbaa informs Timon that he gets anxious in crowds and passes gas explosively that knocks some of the animals out, making the rest of them kneel. Timon (who doesn't mind this) realises this is Pumbaa's "special power" that makes him drive animals away, which they had briefly mentioned upon first meeting. Timon and Pumbaa then look for several other places to live, intersecting with important events in the film. They are eventually caught in the wildebeest stampede that takes the life of Mufasa, but survive after falling down a large waterfall and find a vast jungle which they decide to make their home. Timon then learns of Pumbaa's own philosophy of Hakuna Matata, embracing it to his fullest. However, one day the two find Simba and raise him as their own despite the negative effects of Hakuna Matata.
Years on, Nala appears after chasing Pumbaa and reunites with Simba. Timon and Pumbaa attempt to prevent the two lions from getting together, but ultimately fail in their plan. They then spot Simba running away after his off-screen argument with Nala, and Timon celebrates, with Pumbaa feeling guilty. Later, Nala appears explaining to the two of them where Simba has gone, after Rafiki had explained he had run off to challenge Scar. After Nala goes to follow Simba, Pumbaa argues with Timon, who is angry that Simba had left them and selfishly declares he has everything he wanted in the jungle, but when Pumbaa leaves, loneliness starts to overcome him. Rafiki appears to Timon but the meerkat prevents him from talking and whilst pretending to have a conversation between himself and the mandrill who he mimics, Timon realises his Hakuna Matata is not a home but friendship, prompting him to go after his friends.
Timon reconciles with Pumbaa and they forgive each other, before then journeying on to Pride Rock. After helping Simba and Nala, Timon and Pumbaa evade the hyenas and run into Ma and Uncle Max who came looking for Timon (after Ma met Rafiki earlier in the film). Wanting to help Simba, Timon proposes that they get rid of the hyenas by using tunnels. Whilst Simba fights Scar, Ma and Uncle Max construct a series of tunnels beneath them, and Timon and Pumbaa use various tactics to distract the hyenas. When the tunnels are finished, Max quickly knocks down the sticks keeping them from caving in; however, the last few get stuck and the plan fails. Cornered once again by the hyenas, Timon dives underground and whilst the hyenas approach Ma, Uncle Max and Pumbaa, he quickly hurries and breaks the remaining sticks, saving his family and Pride Rock. Immediately afterwards, Scar is thrown off of Pride Rock by Simba and falls into the same location as the hyenas, who kill him for betraying them. Simba accepts his place as king of the Pride Lands, thanking Timon and Pumbaa for helping him. Timon takes Ma, Uncle Max and the meerkat colony to live in the jungle, realizing his true Hakuna Matata is family. The meerkats and Pumbaa celebrate with Simba, praising Timon as their hero for finding them a safe, beautiful haven and forever ridding them of the hyenas. In the final scene of the film, Ma, Uncle Max, Simba, Rafiki and many other silhouetted Disney characters (who don't belong in the movie) join Timon and Pumbaa to re-watch the film in the cinema. Pumbaa then informs Timon he still grows anxious in crowds, ending the film.
Voice Cast[edit]
MainNathan Lane as Timon, a meerkat who is Pumbaa's best friend. Though somewhat self-centered, selfish, and distracted, Timon shows strong loyalty towards his friends. Lianne Hughes and Alexs Stadermann served as the supervising animators for Timon.
Ernie Sabella as Pumbaa, a warthog who is Timon's best friend. Though slow-witted, he is very empathic and ready to trust and befriend anyone. He is also claustrophobic and passes gas in crowds. Bob Baxter served as the supervising animator for Pumbaa.
Julie Kavner as Ma, Timon's supportive mother. She is quite protective and attached to her son, often trying to get him accepted amongst the colony, but never succeeding. Lianne Hughes served as the supervising animator for Ma.
Jerry Stiller as Uncle Max, Timon's paranoid, eccentric but well-meaning uncle. He initially doubts Timon's ability, but warms up to him at the film's climax. Lianne Hughes served as the supervising animator for Max.
Matthew Broderick as Simba, Mufasa and Sarabi's son, Scar's nephew, Nala's husband and the current King of the Pride Lands. Matt Weinberg voices Simba as a cub. Bob Baxter served as the supervising animator for Simba.
Robert Guillaume as Rafiki, a mandrill who teaches Timon return Hakuna Matata, and gives him faith in himself to do what he dreams of doing. Alexs Stadermann served as the supervising animator for Rafiki.
Moira Kelly as Nala, Simba's childhood friend and eventual wife. Most of her dialogue is archived from the original film. She only has one scene with newly recorded dialogue.
Whoopi Goldberg, Cheech Marin and Jim Cummings as Shenzi, Banzai and Ed, a trio of hyenas who act as the local predators of Timon's meerkat colony before their allegiance with Scar. Bob Baxter served as the supervising animator for the hyenas.
Edward Hibbert as Zazu, a hornbill and the loyal adviser of The Lion King.
Scar (cameo)
Jason Rudofsky as Iron Joe, a meerkat who served as the colony's sentry before Timon took over his post.
Additional voices are provided by Tony Anselmo, Jeff Bennett, Corey Burton, Cam Clarke, Bill Farmer, Shaun Fleming, Carolyn Gardner, Bob Joles, Tress MacNeille, Alex Manugian, Del Roy, Chris Sanders, Kevin Schon, Blayne Weaver and Andrea Wolfson.
Production[edit]
In April 2000, it was announced that the Walt Disney Company selected Jeff Ahlholm, Colin Goldman, and Tom Rogers to write the script for The Lion King 3. It was scheduled to arrive in video stores sometime in 2001.[1] In May 2003, it was announced The Lion King 1½ will be scheduled for home video release in early spring 2004 with Nathan Lane, Ernie Sabella, and Matthew Broderick reprising their original roles, and Elton John and Tim Rice returning to compose a new song, "Meerkat Rhapsody".[2]
Release[edit]
Upon its initial home video release, The Lion King 1½ was accompanied by with a marketing campaign tie-in with McDonald's with six Happy Meal toys including Simba, Rafiki, Timon, Pumbaa, Mufasa and Ed.[3]
Home video[edit]
In May 2003, the DVD edition was confirmed to include music videos, deleted scenes, behind-the-scenes views of how the movie was made, and two featurettes: Timon -- The Early Years; a mockumentary tracing Timon's childhood through tongue-in-cheek interviews with family and friends; and Disney's Funniest Moments, highlighting Disney animated characters from the Seven Dwarfs to Brother Bear. Two games also will be including a virtual safari backlot tour through the Pride Lands and a Lion King trivia game in the format of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.[2] In February 2004, more than 3 million copies of its VHS and DVD units were sold in its first days.[4] That same month, Variety reported the film sold about 2.5 million out of 3.1 million DVD copies before its first weekend generating about $55 million in its first three days of release.[5] A DVD boxed set of the three Lion King films (in two-disc Special Edition formats) was released on December 6, 2004. In January 2005, the film, along with the sequels, went back into moratorium.[6]
The Lion King 1½ was first released on Blu-ray in a eight-disc box set trilogy set on October 4, 2011.[7] It received its separate Blu-ray release on March 6, 2012, just like The Lion King II: Simba's Pride. It was produced in two different packages, a 2-disc version with Blu-ray and DVD, and a DVD edition. The release has also been attached with a new Timon & Pumbaa short, in which they gaze at the night sky as the star constellations resemble their favorite meal: Insects.[8]
Reception[edit]
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a 76% approval rating based on 17 reviews, with an average rating of 6.4/10.[9]
Frank Lovece of TV Guide gave the film 3½ stars out of 4 stating that "This retelling of THE LION KING (1994) from the point of view of comic sidekicks Timon (voice of Nathan Lane) and Pumbaa (Ernie Sabella) is one of the rare Disney direct-to-video sequels worthy of the original." He went on to say that 'the only aspect of the film that feels forced is the revisionist positioning of Timon as young Simba's step-dad, which has no emotional echo in the first film. The quality of the animation is surprisingly impressive; some static backgrounds are the primary concession to a small-screen budget and the fluid character movements and expressions are vastly superior to those of, say, the Timon and Pumbaa TV cartoon series.'"[10] Joe Leydon of Variety gave the film a positive review writing "toddlers and preschoolers will be equally enchanted and amused by colorful toon shenanigans."[11] Los Angeles Times article writer Susan King wrote that "Because Disney's made-for-video sequels to their classic animated films have been mediocre at best, expectations for this new sequel to the mouse house's 1994 blockbuster were slim. But thanks to a clever story line, snappy dialogue that kids and adults will enjoy, a couple of decent new songs and the return of the original voice actors, Lion King 1 1/2 is an irreverent gas."[12]
Reviewers suggested that it was somewhat influenced by the Tom Stoppard's play Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, in which the titular characters are seen in every major event of Hamlet.[13][11][14] [15]
Soundtrack[edit]
The film soundtrack, The Lion King 1½: Songs From Timon and Pumbaa's Hilarious Adventure, was released to CD by Disney Records on February 10, 2004. It includes two songs from the original film, "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" and "Hakuna Matata", re-performed by Nathan Lane who voiced the character Timon. The rest of the soundtrack includes various R&B tracks, including remakes of the Kool and the Gang classic "Jungle Boogie" by The French, and two instrumental pieces from film composer Don Harper. It features Sheldon Harnick and Jerry Bock's "Sunrise, Sunset" from "Fiddler on the Roof". Ennio Morricone was the original composer of "The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly".[16]
1."Nants Ingonyama"
2."Grazing In The Grass" (Raven-Symoné)
3."Digga Tunnah Dance" (Lebo M and Vinx)
4."That's All I Need" (Nathan Lane) (based on unused song from original film called "Warthog Rhapsody")
5."I Just Can't Wait to Be King" (Aaron Carter)
6."Hakuna Matata" (Nathan Lane, and Ernie Sabella)
7."The Lion Sleeps Tonight" (Lebo M)
8."Jungle Boogie"
9."Timon's Traveling Theme"
10."The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" Theme
11."Sunrise, Sunset" (from "Fiddler on the Roof")
12."Peter Gunn" Theme
13."Digga Tunnah Dance (reprise)" (Lebo M and Vinx)
14."The Big Wrap-Up Theme"
Awards[edit]
2005 Annie Award for "Best Home Entertainment Production" (Won)
"Music in an Animated Feature Production" (Nominated)
2005 DVD Exclusive Awards in the following categories: Best Animated Character Performance (Nathan Lane - voice, Alexis Stadermann - animator) for "Timon" (Won)
Best Animated DVD Premiere Movie (Won)
Best Director (of a DVD Premiere Movie) - Bradley Raymond (Won)
Best Editing (of a DVD Premiere Movie) - Joyce Arrastia (Won)
Best Screenplay (for a DVD Premiere Movie) - Tom Rogers (Won)
2005 Saturn Award "Best DVD Release" (Nominated)

Video game[edit]
A video game of the film was published in 2003 for the Game Boy Advance, featuring Timon and Pumbaa as the playable characters.[17]
References[edit]
1.Jump up ^ Lyons, Charles (April 12, 2001). "Disney taps cubs to pen direct-to-vid ‘Lion King 3′". Variety. Retrieved August 24, 2014.
2.^ Jump up to: a b Villa, Joan (May 9, 2003). "Dis fills 'Lion' gaps with '1 1/2'" (Fee required). The Hollywood Reporter. High Beam. Retrieved August 24, 2014.
3.Jump up ^ DeMott, Matt (February 5, 2004). "McDonald's Happy Meals Feature Lion King 1 1/2 Toys". Animation World Magazine. Retrieved August 24, 2014.
4.Jump up ^ Desowitz, Bill. "Lion King 1 1/2 Roars in Home Theaters". Animation World Magazine. February 13, 2004.
5.Jump up ^ Herrick, Scott (February 15, 2004). "‘Lion’ sequel DVD roaring". Variety. Retrieved August 24, 2014.
6.Jump up ^ "Out of Print Disney DVDs". UltimateDisney.com.
7.Jump up ^ "Audiences to Experience Disney's "The Lion King" Like Never Before". PR News Wire. May 26, 2011. Retrieved May 26, 2011.
8.Jump up ^ Lui, Ed. "Lion King 1 1/2" and "Lion King 2" Coming to Blu-ray, DVD, and Digital on March 6, 2012". Toon Zone.
9.Jump up ^ "The Lion King 1½ Movie Reviews, Pictures". Rotten Tomatoes. Flixster. Retrieved August 24, 2014.
10.Jump up ^ http://movies.tvguide.com/lion-king-1/review/137367
11.^ Jump up to: a b Leydon, Joe (February 10, 2004). "Review: ‘The Lion King 1½’". Variety. Retrieved August 24, 2014.
12.Jump up ^ King, Susan (February 12, 2004). "Rip-roaring 'Lion' retelling". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved August 24, 2014.
13.Jump up ^ Churnin, Nancy (February 17, 2004). "Catch the `King' when he was a cub.". Dallas Morning News.
14.Jump up ^ Willman, Chris. "The Lion King 1½.". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved February 20, 2004.
15.Jump up ^ The Lion King 1½. VideoHound's Golden Movie Retriever
16.Jump up ^ "Lion King 1 ½ SOUNDTRACK". Amazon.com. Retrieved September 25, 2008.
17.Jump up ^ "The Lion King 1½ Game Boy Advance info/review". GameSpot. Retrieved August 7, 2008.
External links[edit]
 Wikiquote has quotations related to: The Lion King 1½
Official website
The Lion King 1½ at AllMovie
The Lion King 1½ at the Big Cartoon DataBase
The Lion King 1½ at the Internet Movie Database
The Lion King 1½ at Rotten Tomatoes


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The Lion King 1½
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search


The Lion King 1½
Lion king 1 half cover.jpg
DVD cover
 
Directed by
Bradley Raymond
Produced by
George A. Mendoza
Screenplay by
Tom Rogers
Story by
Roger Allers
Irene Mecchi
 Bill Steinkiller
 Raymond Singer
 Evan Spiliotopoulos
Starring
Nathan Lane
Ernie Sabella
Julie Kavner
Jerry Stiller
Matthew Broderick
 Robert Guillaume
Moira Kelly
Whoopi Goldberg
Cheech Marin
Jim Cummings
Edward Hibbert
Matt Weinberg
Music by
Don Harper
Edited by
Joyce Arrastia
Production
 company
Walt Disney Pictures
DisneyToon Studios
Sparx Animation Studios
 
Distributed by
Walt Disney Home Entertainment
Release dates
February 10, 2004
 
Running time
77 minutes
Country
United States
Language
English
The Lion King 1½ is a 2004 direct-to-video animated film produced by Walt Disney Pictures and DisneyToon Studios and released by Walt Disney Home Entertainment on February 10, 2004. The film was also theatrically released internationally and in selected cities in the United States. It is the third and final installment in the Lion King trilogy. The DVD went to the Disney Vault in January 2004. The film follows characters Timon and Pumbaa and their involvement surrounding the original film, The Lion King.
The original cast returns to re-voice their parts, save for a few exceptions: Rowan Atkinson (the original voice of Zazu) was again replaced by Edward Hibbert; Jonathan Taylor Thomas (originally Young Simba) is replaced by Matt Weinberg; and James Earl Jones and Jeremy Irons (Mufasa and Scar respectively) did not reprise their roles.
The Lion King 1½ was released on Blu-ray in The Lion King trilogy box set on October 4, 2011, and was released for individual sale on March 6, 2012 alongside The Lion King II: Simba's Pride. The Blu-ray and DVD releases, along with the previous sequel and the Diamond Edition release of the first film, went into moratorium on April 30, 2013.[citation needed]


Contents  [hide]
1 Plot
2 Voice Cast
3 Production
4 Release 4.1 Home video
5 Reception
6 Soundtrack
7 Awards
8 Video game
9 References
10 External links

Plot[edit]
The film is told through the perspective of Timon and Pumbaa through the literary device known as a frame story. The two are shown watching the original film, The Lion King, being shown in silhouette commenting on the movie being shown before them, in a style nearly identical to that of Mystery Science Theater 3000.
They quickly stop the film and rewind it so they can show their side of the story, occasionally stopping the footage to talk with one another. Timon shows Pumbaa the meerkat's backstory, revealing him to be an outcast in his colony on the outskirts of the Pridelands. While supported by his mother Ma, Timon (who unable to fit in with the others) wished for more in life and left the colony after the meerkats and Uncle Max are nearly eaten by hyenas Shenzi, Banzai and Ed. He meets the mandrill Rafiki who advises him to find his place in the world via Hakuna Matata and to "look beyond what you see". After observing Pride Rock in the distance and deciding to venture there, Timon wanders into some long grass and meets Pumbaa for the first time, both becoming friends very quickly.
The pair arrive at Pride Rock during Simba's presentation to the Pridelands' animals. However, Pumbaa informs Timon that he gets anxious in crowds and passes gas explosively that knocks some of the animals out, making the rest of them kneel. Timon (who doesn't mind this) realises this is Pumbaa's "special power" that makes him drive animals away, which they had briefly mentioned upon first meeting. Timon and Pumbaa then look for several other places to live, intersecting with important events in the film. They are eventually caught in the wildebeest stampede that takes the life of Mufasa, but survive after falling down a large waterfall and find a vast jungle which they decide to make their home. Timon then learns of Pumbaa's own philosophy of Hakuna Matata, embracing it to his fullest. However, one day the two find Simba and raise him as their own despite the negative effects of Hakuna Matata.
Years on, Nala appears after chasing Pumbaa and reunites with Simba. Timon and Pumbaa attempt to prevent the two lions from getting together, but ultimately fail in their plan. They then spot Simba running away after his off-screen argument with Nala, and Timon celebrates, with Pumbaa feeling guilty. Later, Nala appears explaining to the two of them where Simba has gone, after Rafiki had explained he had run off to challenge Scar. After Nala goes to follow Simba, Pumbaa argues with Timon, who is angry that Simba had left them and selfishly declares he has everything he wanted in the jungle, but when Pumbaa leaves, loneliness starts to overcome him. Rafiki appears to Timon but the meerkat prevents him from talking and whilst pretending to have a conversation between himself and the mandrill who he mimics, Timon realises his Hakuna Matata is not a home but friendship, prompting him to go after his friends.
Timon reconciles with Pumbaa and they forgive each other, before then journeying on to Pride Rock. After helping Simba and Nala, Timon and Pumbaa evade the hyenas and run into Ma and Uncle Max who came looking for Timon (after Ma met Rafiki earlier in the film). Wanting to help Simba, Timon proposes that they get rid of the hyenas by using tunnels. Whilst Simba fights Scar, Ma and Uncle Max construct a series of tunnels beneath them, and Timon and Pumbaa use various tactics to distract the hyenas. When the tunnels are finished, Max quickly knocks down the sticks keeping them from caving in; however, the last few get stuck and the plan fails. Cornered once again by the hyenas, Timon dives underground and whilst the hyenas approach Ma, Uncle Max and Pumbaa, he quickly hurries and breaks the remaining sticks, saving his family and Pride Rock. Immediately afterwards, Scar is thrown off of Pride Rock by Simba and falls into the same location as the hyenas, who kill him for betraying them. Simba accepts his place as king of the Pride Lands, thanking Timon and Pumbaa for helping him. Timon takes Ma, Uncle Max and the meerkat colony to live in the jungle, realizing his true Hakuna Matata is family. The meerkats and Pumbaa celebrate with Simba, praising Timon as their hero for finding them a safe, beautiful haven and forever ridding them of the hyenas. In the final scene of the film, Ma, Uncle Max, Simba, Rafiki and many other silhouetted Disney characters (who don't belong in the movie) join Timon and Pumbaa to re-watch the film in the cinema. Pumbaa then informs Timon he still grows anxious in crowds, ending the film.
Voice Cast[edit]
MainNathan Lane as Timon, a meerkat who is Pumbaa's best friend. Though somewhat self-centered, selfish, and distracted, Timon shows strong loyalty towards his friends. Lianne Hughes and Alexs Stadermann served as the supervising animators for Timon.
Ernie Sabella as Pumbaa, a warthog who is Timon's best friend. Though slow-witted, he is very empathic and ready to trust and befriend anyone. He is also claustrophobic and passes gas in crowds. Bob Baxter served as the supervising animator for Pumbaa.
Julie Kavner as Ma, Timon's supportive mother. She is quite protective and attached to her son, often trying to get him accepted amongst the colony, but never succeeding. Lianne Hughes served as the supervising animator for Ma.
Jerry Stiller as Uncle Max, Timon's paranoid, eccentric but well-meaning uncle. He initially doubts Timon's ability, but warms up to him at the film's climax. Lianne Hughes served as the supervising animator for Max.
Matthew Broderick as Simba, Mufasa and Sarabi's son, Scar's nephew, Nala's husband and the current King of the Pride Lands. Matt Weinberg voices Simba as a cub. Bob Baxter served as the supervising animator for Simba.
Robert Guillaume as Rafiki, a mandrill who teaches Timon return Hakuna Matata, and gives him faith in himself to do what he dreams of doing. Alexs Stadermann served as the supervising animator for Rafiki.
Moira Kelly as Nala, Simba's childhood friend and eventual wife. Most of her dialogue is archived from the original film. She only has one scene with newly recorded dialogue.
Whoopi Goldberg, Cheech Marin and Jim Cummings as Shenzi, Banzai and Ed, a trio of hyenas who act as the local predators of Timon's meerkat colony before their allegiance with Scar. Bob Baxter served as the supervising animator for the hyenas.
Edward Hibbert as Zazu, a hornbill and the loyal adviser of The Lion King.
Scar (cameo)
Jason Rudofsky as Iron Joe, a meerkat who served as the colony's sentry before Timon took over his post.
Additional voices are provided by Tony Anselmo, Jeff Bennett, Corey Burton, Cam Clarke, Bill Farmer, Shaun Fleming, Carolyn Gardner, Bob Joles, Tress MacNeille, Alex Manugian, Del Roy, Chris Sanders, Kevin Schon, Blayne Weaver and Andrea Wolfson.
Production[edit]
In April 2000, it was announced that the Walt Disney Company selected Jeff Ahlholm, Colin Goldman, and Tom Rogers to write the script for The Lion King 3. It was scheduled to arrive in video stores sometime in 2001.[1] In May 2003, it was announced The Lion King 1½ will be scheduled for home video release in early spring 2004 with Nathan Lane, Ernie Sabella, and Matthew Broderick reprising their original roles, and Elton John and Tim Rice returning to compose a new song, "Meerkat Rhapsody".[2]
Release[edit]
Upon its initial home video release, The Lion King 1½ was accompanied by with a marketing campaign tie-in with McDonald's with six Happy Meal toys including Simba, Rafiki, Timon, Pumbaa, Mufasa and Ed.[3]
Home video[edit]
In May 2003, the DVD edition was confirmed to include music videos, deleted scenes, behind-the-scenes views of how the movie was made, and two featurettes: Timon -- The Early Years; a mockumentary tracing Timon's childhood through tongue-in-cheek interviews with family and friends; and Disney's Funniest Moments, highlighting Disney animated characters from the Seven Dwarfs to Brother Bear. Two games also will be including a virtual safari backlot tour through the Pride Lands and a Lion King trivia game in the format of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.[2] In February 2004, more than 3 million copies of its VHS and DVD units were sold in its first days.[4] That same month, Variety reported the film sold about 2.5 million out of 3.1 million DVD copies before its first weekend generating about $55 million in its first three days of release.[5] A DVD boxed set of the three Lion King films (in two-disc Special Edition formats) was released on December 6, 2004. In January 2005, the film, along with the sequels, went back into moratorium.[6]
The Lion King 1½ was first released on Blu-ray in a eight-disc box set trilogy set on October 4, 2011.[7] It received its separate Blu-ray release on March 6, 2012, just like The Lion King II: Simba's Pride. It was produced in two different packages, a 2-disc version with Blu-ray and DVD, and a DVD edition. The release has also been attached with a new Timon & Pumbaa short, in which they gaze at the night sky as the star constellations resemble their favorite meal: Insects.[8]
Reception[edit]
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a 76% approval rating based on 17 reviews, with an average rating of 6.4/10.[9]
Frank Lovece of TV Guide gave the film 3½ stars out of 4 stating that "This retelling of THE LION KING (1994) from the point of view of comic sidekicks Timon (voice of Nathan Lane) and Pumbaa (Ernie Sabella) is one of the rare Disney direct-to-video sequels worthy of the original." He went on to say that 'the only aspect of the film that feels forced is the revisionist positioning of Timon as young Simba's step-dad, which has no emotional echo in the first film. The quality of the animation is surprisingly impressive; some static backgrounds are the primary concession to a small-screen budget and the fluid character movements and expressions are vastly superior to those of, say, the Timon and Pumbaa TV cartoon series.'"[10] Joe Leydon of Variety gave the film a positive review writing "toddlers and preschoolers will be equally enchanted and amused by colorful toon shenanigans."[11] Los Angeles Times article writer Susan King wrote that "Because Disney's made-for-video sequels to their classic animated films have been mediocre at best, expectations for this new sequel to the mouse house's 1994 blockbuster were slim. But thanks to a clever story line, snappy dialogue that kids and adults will enjoy, a couple of decent new songs and the return of the original voice actors, Lion King 1 1/2 is an irreverent gas."[12]
Reviewers suggested that it was somewhat influenced by the Tom Stoppard's play Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, in which the titular characters are seen in every major event of Hamlet.[13][11][14] [15]
Soundtrack[edit]
The film soundtrack, The Lion King 1½: Songs From Timon and Pumbaa's Hilarious Adventure, was released to CD by Disney Records on February 10, 2004. It includes two songs from the original film, "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" and "Hakuna Matata", re-performed by Nathan Lane who voiced the character Timon. The rest of the soundtrack includes various R&B tracks, including remakes of the Kool and the Gang classic "Jungle Boogie" by The French, and two instrumental pieces from film composer Don Harper. It features Sheldon Harnick and Jerry Bock's "Sunrise, Sunset" from "Fiddler on the Roof". Ennio Morricone was the original composer of "The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly".[16]
1."Nants Ingonyama"
2."Grazing In The Grass" (Raven-Symoné)
3."Digga Tunnah Dance" (Lebo M and Vinx)
4."That's All I Need" (Nathan Lane) (based on unused song from original film called "Warthog Rhapsody")
5."I Just Can't Wait to Be King" (Aaron Carter)
6."Hakuna Matata" (Nathan Lane, and Ernie Sabella)
7."The Lion Sleeps Tonight" (Lebo M)
8."Jungle Boogie"
9."Timon's Traveling Theme"
10."The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" Theme
11."Sunrise, Sunset" (from "Fiddler on the Roof")
12."Peter Gunn" Theme
13."Digga Tunnah Dance (reprise)" (Lebo M and Vinx)
14."The Big Wrap-Up Theme"
Awards[edit]
2005 Annie Award for "Best Home Entertainment Production" (Won)
"Music in an Animated Feature Production" (Nominated)
2005 DVD Exclusive Awards in the following categories: Best Animated Character Performance (Nathan Lane - voice, Alexis Stadermann - animator) for "Timon" (Won)
Best Animated DVD Premiere Movie (Won)
Best Director (of a DVD Premiere Movie) - Bradley Raymond (Won)
Best Editing (of a DVD Premiere Movie) - Joyce Arrastia (Won)
Best Screenplay (for a DVD Premiere Movie) - Tom Rogers (Won)
2005 Saturn Award "Best DVD Release" (Nominated)

Video game[edit]
A video game of the film was published in 2003 for the Game Boy Advance, featuring Timon and Pumbaa as the playable characters.[17]
References[edit]
1.Jump up ^ Lyons, Charles (April 12, 2001). "Disney taps cubs to pen direct-to-vid ‘Lion King 3′". Variety. Retrieved August 24, 2014.
2.^ Jump up to: a b Villa, Joan (May 9, 2003). "Dis fills 'Lion' gaps with '1 1/2'" (Fee required). The Hollywood Reporter. High Beam. Retrieved August 24, 2014.
3.Jump up ^ DeMott, Matt (February 5, 2004). "McDonald's Happy Meals Feature Lion King 1 1/2 Toys". Animation World Magazine. Retrieved August 24, 2014.
4.Jump up ^ Desowitz, Bill. "Lion King 1 1/2 Roars in Home Theaters". Animation World Magazine. February 13, 2004.
5.Jump up ^ Herrick, Scott (February 15, 2004). "‘Lion’ sequel DVD roaring". Variety. Retrieved August 24, 2014.
6.Jump up ^ "Out of Print Disney DVDs". UltimateDisney.com.
7.Jump up ^ "Audiences to Experience Disney's "The Lion King" Like Never Before". PR News Wire. May 26, 2011. Retrieved May 26, 2011.
8.Jump up ^ Lui, Ed. "Lion King 1 1/2" and "Lion King 2" Coming to Blu-ray, DVD, and Digital on March 6, 2012". Toon Zone.
9.Jump up ^ "The Lion King 1½ Movie Reviews, Pictures". Rotten Tomatoes. Flixster. Retrieved August 24, 2014.
10.Jump up ^ http://movies.tvguide.com/lion-king-1/review/137367
11.^ Jump up to: a b Leydon, Joe (February 10, 2004). "Review: ‘The Lion King 1½’". Variety. Retrieved August 24, 2014.
12.Jump up ^ King, Susan (February 12, 2004). "Rip-roaring 'Lion' retelling". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved August 24, 2014.
13.Jump up ^ Churnin, Nancy (February 17, 2004). "Catch the `King' when he was a cub.". Dallas Morning News.
14.Jump up ^ Willman, Chris. "The Lion King 1½.". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved February 20, 2004.
15.Jump up ^ The Lion King 1½. VideoHound's Golden Movie Retriever
16.Jump up ^ "Lion King 1 ½ SOUNDTRACK". Amazon.com. Retrieved September 25, 2008.
17.Jump up ^ "The Lion King 1½ Game Boy Advance info/review". GameSpot. Retrieved August 7, 2008.
External links[edit]
 Wikiquote has quotations related to: The Lion King 1½
Official website
The Lion King 1½ at AllMovie
The Lion King 1½ at the Big Cartoon DataBase
The Lion King 1½ at the Internet Movie Database
The Lion King 1½ at Rotten Tomatoes


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The Lion King II: Simba's Pride
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 This article may require copy editing for grammar, style, cohesion, tone, or spelling. You can assist by editing it. (June 2014)

The Lion King II: Simba's Pride
SimbasPrideVHS.jpg
North American VHS cover
 
Directed by
Darrell Rooney
Produced by
Jeannine Roussel
Screenplay by
Flip Kobler
 Cindy Marcus
Starring
Matthew Broderick
Neve Campbell
Suzanne Pleshette
Jason Marsden
Robert Guillaume
Edward Hibbert
Nathan Lane
Ernie Sabella
Moira Kelly
Music by
Nick Glennie-Smith
Edited by
Peter Lonsdale
Production
 company
Walt Disney Pictures
DisneyToon Studios
 
Distributed by
Walt Disney Home Video
Release dates
October 27, 1998
 
Running time
81 minutes
Country
United States
Language
English
The Lion King II: Simba's Pride (later retitled The Lion King 2: Simba's Pride) is a 1998 American direct-to-video animated musical romantic comedy-drama film produced by Walt Disney Pictures and Walt Disney Animation Australia and released on October 27, 1998 by Walt Disney Home Video (aka Buena Vista Home Entertainment). The film is the sequel to the 1994 Disney animated film The Lion King. It was later re-released as a special edition DVD on August 31, 2004. It was also re-released again on Blu-ray alongside The Lion King and The Lion King 1½. The Blu-ray edition was "placed into the "Disney Vault" on April 30, 2013.
The film centers around Simba and Nala's daughter, Kiara, who falls in love with Kovu, a male lion who was raised in a pride called the Outsiders who were banished by Simba for being loyal to his evil uncle Scar. Desperate to be together, they must overcome the two obstacles that are keeping them apart: Kovu's mother, Zira, and Simba's prejudices against the Outsiders. It also centers around Simba's father-daughter relationship with Kiara, who has a desire for taking care of herself and being on her own, under her father's protection.
Most of the original cast reprised their roles from the first film, apart from Rowan Atkinson, who was replaced by Edward Hibbert as the voice of Zazu in this film and its follow-up/predecessor The Lion King 1½, and Madge Sinclair, who was the voice of Simba's mother Sarabi in the first film, but died in 1995 after the release of the first film. Her character was written out and did not appear.


Contents  [hide]
1 Plot
2 Voice cast
3 Production
4 Release
5 Reception
6 Music 6.1 Songs
6.2 Soundtrack
7 References
8 External links

Plot[edit]
The animals of the Pridelands gather to witness the celebration of the newborn cub, Kiara, daughter of King Simba and Queen Nala. Simba's father Mufasa proudly watches over the ceremony from the Heavens above. As she grows older, Kiara becomes annoyed with her father's overprotective parenting. Simba assigns Timon and Pumbaa to watch her. Kiara ignores the duo's attention and enters the "Outlands", where she meets Kovu, a cub who unknown to her was chosen by Simba's uncle Scar to be his heir. When Kovu retaliates to Kiara's playing, Simba confronts the young cub just as Zira, Kovu's mother, confronts the lion. Zira reminds Simba of how he exiled her and the other Outsiders also tells him Kovu was hand-chosen to be Scar's successor. After returning to the Pride Lands, Simba sends Nala and the rest of the pride back to Pride Rock while he warns Kiara about the danger posed by the Outsiders. Simba then tells them that they are a part of each other.
Meanwhile in the Outlands, Zira reminds Kovu that Simba killed Scar and was the one who exiled the lions who respect Scar. Kovu explains that he does not think it is so bad to have Kiara as his good friend, but Zira realizes she can use Kovu's friendship with Kiara to exact revenge on Simba.
Many years later, Kiara, now a young adult, heads out for her first solo hunt. As part of Zira's plan, Kovu's siblings Nuka and Vitani, trap her in a fire, allowing Kovu to rescue her. Simba, unwilling to thank the young rogue, is forced to accept Kovu's asylum now that Kovu saved his daughter. Later that night, Simba dreams about attempting to save Mufasa from falling into the stampede but is stopped by Scar who then turns into Kovu and throws Simba off the cliff into the stampede. The next day, Kovu contemplates attacking Simba as he was instructed to, but he goes out to teach Kiara how to hunt instead and hardly realizes the love he has for her at this point. Kovu attempts to confess his mission to Kiara, but Rafiki shows up and leads them to the jungle where he introduces them to "Upendi" — love and two lions ultimately fall in love.
Kovu's guilt drives him to confess about his mission to Kiara. Before he can do so, Simba takes him around the Pride Lands and tells him the real story of Scar, which Kovu had never heard. They fall into an ambush set up by Zira, who orders Kovu to kill Simba, but runs away instead. Nuka, tries to capture and kill Simba, but he is lethally crushed by some of the logs in the dam. Zira blames Kovu for his brother's death and claws him across his eye in anger and frustration. Kovu attempts to return to the Pride Lands and pleads Simba for his forgiveness but is promptly exiled. Furious at Simba, Kiara informs him that he will never be like Mufasa before fleeing to find Kovu. The two young lions later find each other and profess their love. Kiara convinces Kovu to return with her to the Pridelands.
The Outsiders and Pridelanders clash. Zira and Simba confront each other, but Kovu and Kiara intervene and tell them to stop their hostilities. Vitani and the Outsiders side with the Pridelanders. Zira fails to attack Simba when Kiara pushes her over a cliff dangling over a storm-swollen river. Kiara offers Zira her help, but she refuses and dies. Simba helps Kiara back up the cliff, before they, along with Nala, allow the Outsiders and Kovu to rejoin the Pride Lands at Pride Rock and even accept Kovu as his son-in-law and the future king and Kiara the future queen. Simba looks up at the sky to hear the approval of his father and he is proud of him, and the film ends.
Voice cast[edit]
Main article: List of The Lion King characters
Matthew Broderick as Simba, the King of the Pride Lands, son of Mufasa, mate of Nala and father of Kiara. Cam Clarke provides his singing voice. Ian Harrowell served as the supervising animator for Simba.
Moira Kelly as Nala, the Queen of the Pride Lands, mate of Simba and mother of Kiara. Ian Harrowell served as the supervising animator for Nala.
Neve Campbell as Kiara, Simba and Nala's daughter. As a cub, she is voiced by Michelle Horn, with Charity Sanoy providing her child singing voice as a cub, Ashley Edner providing her lion growls as a cub and Liz Callaway providing her adult singing voice. Lianne Hughes served as the supervising animator for Kiara.
Suzanne Pleshette as Zira, the leader of the Outsiders and Scar's most loyal follower and the mother of Nuka, Vitani, and Kovu. Kevin Peaty served as the supervising animator for Zira.
Andy Dick as Nuka, Zira's oldest, Vitani and Kovu's older brother, and the oldest male of Zira's family. Ian Harrowell served as the supervising animator for Nuka.
Nathan Lane as Timon, Simba's meerkat best friend, royal adviser, and Kiara's guardian. Bob Baxter served as the supervising animator for Timon.
Ernie Sabella as Pumbaa, Simba's warthog best friend, royal adviser, and Kiara's guardian. Bob Baxter served as the supervising animator for Pumbaa.
Robert Guillaume as Rafiki, the mandrill shaman of The Pride Lands. Bob Baxter served as the supervising animator for Rafiki.
Jennifer Lien as Vitani, Zira's daughter and Nuka and Kovu's sister. As a cub, she is voiced by Lacey Chabert, with Crysta Macalush providing her singing voice. Kevin Peaty served as the supervising animator for Vitani.
Jason Marsden as Kovu, Zira's son, and Nuka and Vitani's younger brother. Gene Miller provides Kovu's singing voice. As a cub, he is voiced by Ryan O'Donohue. Andrew Collins served as the supervising animator for Kovu.
Edward Hibbert as Zazu (replacing Rowan Atkinson), Simba's hornbill adviser and childhood guardian. Bob Baxter served as the supervising animator for Zazu.
James Earl Jones as Mufasa, the spirit of Simba's late father, the older brother of Scar, Kiara's grandfather, and the previous King of the Pride Lands.
Jim Cummings as Scar (replacing Jeremy Irons), Mufasa's younger brother and Simba's evil uncle. Though Scar does not actually appear in the main body of the movie itself (due to him being eaten alive by the hyenas in the first film), he appears briefly in Simba's nightmare and also makes a brief cameo appearance when Kovu (right after being exiled by Simba) looks at his reflection in a pool of water and his reflection changes into Scar.
Production[edit]
Discussion began about the possibility of a sequel to The Lion King before the first film even hit theaters.[1] In January 1995, it was reported that a Lion King sequel was to be released "in the next twelve months".[2] However, it was delayed, and then it was reported in May 1996 that it would be released in "early next year" of 1997.[3] By 1996, producer Jeannine Roussel and director Darrell Rooney signed on board to produce and direct the sequel.[4] In December 1996, Matthew Broderick was confirmed to be returning as Simba while his wife, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Jennifer Aniston were in talks to voice Aisha, Simba's daughter. Andy Dick was also confirmed to have signed on to voice Nunka, the son of Scar, who attempts to romance Aisha.[5] Ultimately, the character was renamed Kiara, and voiced by Neve Campbell.[6] Nunka was renamed Kovu, and voiced by Jason Marsden.[7] Then-Disney CEO Michael Eisner urged for Kovu's relationship to Scar to be changed during production as being Scar's son would make him Kiara's cousin. According to Rooney, the final draft gradually became a variation of Romeo and Juliet. "It's the biggest love story we have," he explained. "The difference is that you understand the position of the parents in this film in a way you never did in the Shakespeare play."[8] Because none of the original animators were involved in the production, the majority of the animation was done by Walt Disney Television Animation's studio in Sydney, Australia. However, all storyboarding and pre-production work was done at the Feature Animation studio in Burbank, California.[8] By March 1998, Disney confirmed the sequel would be released on October 27, 1998.[9]
Release[edit]
The film was first released on VHS in the United States on October 27, 1998 and on DVD as a limited issue on November 23, 1999. The DVD release featured the film in a letterboxed 1.66:1 aspect ratio, the trailer for the movie, and a music video of "Love Will Find A Way" performed by Heather Headley and Kenny Lattimore.[10] In 1998, Disney believed that The Lion King II: Simba's Pride would be so popular that it shipped 15 million copies to stores for the October 27 release date. In March 2001, it was reported that in its first three day, 3.5 million VHS copies were sold, and ultimately about thirteen million copies were sold.[11] In September 2001, it was reported that Simba's Pride had sold more than 15 million copies.[12] Overall, consumer spending on The Lion King II: Simba's Pride accumulated about $300 million — roughly the same figure of its predecessor's theatrical release at that time,[13] and continues to be one of the top-selling direct-to-video release of all time, with $464.5 million worldwide in sales and rentals.[14]
On August 31, 2004, the film was re-released on VHS and a 2-Disc Special Edition DVD. The DVD edition featured optional pop-up informational commentary, interactive games (the "Virtual Safari") featuring Timon and Pumbaa and Rafiki, five humorous "Find Out Why" shorts, an animated short based on Lebo M's "One By One", and a "Proud of Simba's Pride" featurette.[15] The Special Edition version featured changes made to the film such as Kovu in the water being inexplicably re-animated as well as other alterations.[10] A DVD boxed set of the three The Lion King films (in two-disc Special Edition formats) was released on December 6, 2004. In January 2005, the film, along with the sequels, went back into moratorium.[16]
On October 4, 2011, Simba's Pride was included in an eight-disc box set trilogy set with the other two films.[17] The Blu-ray edition for the film was released as a separate version on March 6, 2012.[18] The Blu-ray edition has three different versions, a 2-disc Blu-ray/DVD combo pack, a 1-disc edition, and a digital download. The Blu-ray edition has also been attached with a new Timon & Pumbaa short, in which the two friends gaze at the night sky as the star constellations resemble their favorite meal, insects.[18] The Blu-ray edition of The Lion King II, along with the other two films in the series, was placed into moratorium on April 30, 2013.[citation needed]
Reception[edit]
The Lion King II: Simba's Pride received mixed to positive reviews. Based on 6 reviews collected by Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 33% from critics with an average score of 5.6/10.[19]
Siskel & Ebert gave the film a "two-thumbs up" and said it was a "satisfactory sequel to one of the most popular films of all time, The Lion King". However, they also said it was best that it went to video, citing that the music was lacking and not remotely equal to the original's soundtrack.[20] TV Guide gave the film 2½ stars out of four, claiming that, despite being of slightly higher quality than Disney's previous direct-to-video animated sequels, "comes nowhere near the level of its big-screen predecessor", either musically or artistically. The review later went on to say that "Though most of the original characters and their voices are back, they all sound bored, apart from the zesty addition of Suzanne Pleshette as the scheming Zira. The overall result is OK for kids, who will enjoy the low humor provided by the comical meerkat Timon and the flatulent warthog Pumbaa, but it could have been so much better."[21] Writing for Variety, Joe Leydon commented in his review that "In marked contrast to most of the studio's small screen sequels to bigscreen animated hits, the new pic isn’t merely kids' stuff. Not unlike its predecessor, Lion King II has enough across-the-board appeal to entertain viewers of all ages."[22] Caryn James of The New York Times concluded her review with "It's the rare sequel that matches the creative flair of an original, of course. The Lion King II may be derivative, but it is also winning on its own."[7] Entertainment Weekly critic Stephen Witty, who graded the sequel a C+, wrote "Despite its drawbacks, The Lion King II could make a decent rental for undemanding under-7 fans of the original, who won't be overburdened by the psychodrama. For true believers who've already watched and rewound their copies to shreds, it might even make a good buy. And for them, hey, hakuna matata. But for the rest of us, caveat emptor might be a better motto."[23] James Plath of Movie Metropolis gave the film 6/10, saying that, "Simply put, we've seen it all before."[24] Felix Vasquez Jr. of Cinema Crazed called it "A retread of "The Fox and the Hound".[25]
Music[edit]
Songs[edit]
The songwriters were Marty Panzer, Tom Snow, Kevin Quinn, Randy Petersen, Mark Mancina, Jay Rifkin, Lebo M, Jack Feldman, Scott Warrender, and Joss Whedon.
"He Lives in You" – Sung by Lebo M and his African choir. This song represents Kiara's birth and is the equivalent of "Circle of Life". The song is a direct reference to when Rafiki told Simba in the first film that Mufasa "lives" in him. Also appears in the Broadway version of the first film. The end title is performed by Tina Turner.
"We Are One" – Sung by Cam Clarke and Charity Sanoy. Following Kiara's encounter with Kovu and Zira in which she endangers herself, Simba explains how important she is to the pride and that the pride is one. It can be seen as the musical equivalent to the first film's talk about the Great Kings of the Past with Mufasa and Simba.
"My Lullaby" – Sung by Suzanne Pleshette, Andy Dick, and Crysta Macalush. Zira's lullaby to Kovu, which outlines her plot for him to kill Simba and how proud it would make her. The equivalent to "Be Prepared" as both songs detail the murder plots of the two villains. There are several allusions to the first film, including the similarities in the ending sequences of both songs and Zira's treatment of Nuka during the song, which resembles Scar's abuse of Shenzi, Banzai and Ed.
"Upendi" (Swahili for "love") – Sung by Robert Guillaume, Liz Callaway, Gene Miller, and Ladysmith Black Mambazo. Rafiki's song to Kiara and Kovu about love, friendship, and happiness. Sung by Rafiki and his animal friends. Also the equivalent to "Hakuna Matata", from the first film, as well as "I Just Can't Wait to Be King" visually.
"Not One of Us" – Sung following Kovu being exiled by Simba after he wrongfully accuses Kovu of betraying him. This was the first time the animals other than lions outside of the main characters (excluding Lion King 1½) have been seen talking. This is the only song to not have an equivalent to the first film, but may lyrically reflect on Mufasa's or Scar's death.
"Love Will Find a Way" – Sung by Liz Callaway and Gene Miller. A romantic love song that includes of Kiara and Kovu's first encounter following Kovu's banishment. The pair concludes that their mutual feelings for each other are too strong and true for their differences to keep them apart. Similar to "Can You Feel the Love Tonight". The end title version is performed by R&B artists Kenny Lattimore and Heather Headley.
Soundtrack[edit]
An audio CD entitled Return to Pride Rock: Songs Inspired by Disney's The Lion King II: Simba's Pride was released on September 8, 1998. Although not promoted as a soundtrack to the film, it contained all the songs from the film and some additional songs inspired by it by Lebo M.
References[edit]
1.Jump up ^ Horn, John HIGH-PROFILE SEQUELS WILL SKIP THEATERS FOR HOME SCREENINGS Associated Press. May 23, 1994. "The studio is so confident in the sequel's success, it already is considering a direct-to-video sequel to The Lion King – which doesn't arrive in theaters until June."
2.Jump up ^ Bloomberg News Service (January 31, 1995). "Sequel To 'Lion King' Set To Roar Into Vcrs Within The Next Year". Burbank: Orlando Sentinel. Retrieved August 15, 2014.
3.Jump up ^ Hettrick, Scott (May 24, 1996). "Disney to Offer Original Made For Home Videos". Entertainment News Service (Sun-Sentinel). Retrieved August 15, 2014.
4.Jump up ^ Roussell, Jeannine and Darrell Rooney. Lady and the Tramp II: Scamp's Adventure audio commentary: DVD, Backstage Disney, 2006.
5.Jump up ^ Fleming, Mike (December 4, 1996). "‘Blackout’ awakens at Miramax; Hammer hit". Variety. Retrieved August 15, 2014.
6.Jump up ^ "`Lion Queen' Going Straight To Video". New York Daily News (Sun-Sentinel). September 2, 1998. Retrieved August 15, 2014.
7.^ Jump up to: a b James, Caryn (October 23, 1998). "VIDEO REVIEW; A 'Lion King' With Girls as Stars". The New York Times. Retrieved August 24, 2014.
8.^ Jump up to: a b King, Susan (October 26, 1998). "'LION KING' - Roaring Only in Stores". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved August 15, 2014.
9.Jump up ^ Hartl, Joe (March 5, 1998). "Disney's The `King' Again Among Animated Releases". The Seattle Times. Retrieved August 24, 2014.
10.^ Jump up to: a b "TLK on Home Video". lionking.org.
11.Jump up ^ Hettrick, Steve (March 6, 2001). "‘Tramp’ sequel scampers into vid paydirt". Variety. Retrieved August 15, 2014.
12.Jump up ^ Hettrick, Steve (September 18, 2001). "Disney ramps up vid-preem sequel slate". Variety. Retrieved August 15, 2014.
13.Jump up ^ Herrick, Scott (October 26, 2003). "There’s gold in them DVDs". Variety. Retrieved August 15, 2014.
14.Jump up ^ Dutka, Elaine (August 20, 2005). "Straight-to-video: Straight to the bank". Los Angeles Times (Chicago Tribune). Retrieved August 15, 2014.
15.Jump up ^ Chitwood, Scott. "The Lion King 2: Simba's Pride". Coming Soon. Retrieved August 15, 2014.
16.Jump up ^ "Out of Print Disney DVDs". UltimateDisney.com. Retrieved August 15, 2014.
17.Jump up ^ "Audiences to Experience Disney's "The Lion King" Like Never Before". PR News Wire. May 26, 2011. Retrieved May 26, 2011.
18.^ Jump up to: a b Lui, Ed (December 20, 2011). "Lion King 1 1/2" and "Lion King 2" Coming to Blu-ray, DVD, and Digital on March 6, 2012". Toon Zone. Retrieved December 22, 2011.
19.Jump up ^ "The Lion King 2 - Simba's Pride (1998)". Rotten Tomatoes. Flixster. Retrieved August 15, 2014.
20.Jump up ^ "The Lion King II: Simba's Pride – Siskel & Ebert".
21.Jump up ^ "The Lion King II: Simba's Pride Review". Movies.tvguide.com. Retrieved July 21, 2012.
22.Jump up ^ Leydon, Joe (October 19, 1998). "Review: ‘The Lion King II: Simba’s Pride’". Variety. Retrieved August 15, 2014.
23.Jump up ^ Witty, Stephen (October 30, 1998). "The Lion King II: Simba's Pride Review". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved August 15, 2014.
24.Jump up ^ Plath, James (March 3, 2012). "THE LION KING 2: SIMBA'S PRIDE – Blu-ray review". Movie Metropolis. Retrieved July 21, 2012.
25.Jump up ^ Felix Vasquez Jr. (May 9, 2013). "The Lion King 2: Simba’s Pride (1998)". Cinema Crazed. Retrieved July 31, 2013.
External links[edit]

Portal icon Disney portal
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Portal icon Film portal
Official website
The Lion King II: Simba's Pride at AllMovie
The Lion King II: Simba's Pride at the Big Cartoon DataBase
The Lion King II: Simba's Pride at the Internet Movie Database
The Lion King II: Simba's Pride at Rotten Tomatoes


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 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lion_King_II:_Simba%27s_Pride










 

The Lion King II: Simba's Pride
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search



 This article may require copy editing for grammar, style, cohesion, tone, or spelling. You can assist by editing it. (June 2014)

The Lion King II: Simba's Pride
SimbasPrideVHS.jpg
North American VHS cover
 
Directed by
Darrell Rooney
Produced by
Jeannine Roussel
Screenplay by
Flip Kobler
 Cindy Marcus
Starring
Matthew Broderick
Neve Campbell
Suzanne Pleshette
Jason Marsden
Robert Guillaume
Edward Hibbert
Nathan Lane
Ernie Sabella
Moira Kelly
Music by
Nick Glennie-Smith
Edited by
Peter Lonsdale
Production
 company
Walt Disney Pictures
DisneyToon Studios
 
Distributed by
Walt Disney Home Video
Release dates
October 27, 1998
 
Running time
81 minutes
Country
United States
Language
English
The Lion King II: Simba's Pride (later retitled The Lion King 2: Simba's Pride) is a 1998 American direct-to-video animated musical romantic comedy-drama film produced by Walt Disney Pictures and Walt Disney Animation Australia and released on October 27, 1998 by Walt Disney Home Video (aka Buena Vista Home Entertainment). The film is the sequel to the 1994 Disney animated film The Lion King. It was later re-released as a special edition DVD on August 31, 2004. It was also re-released again on Blu-ray alongside The Lion King and The Lion King 1½. The Blu-ray edition was "placed into the "Disney Vault" on April 30, 2013.
The film centers around Simba and Nala's daughter, Kiara, who falls in love with Kovu, a male lion who was raised in a pride called the Outsiders who were banished by Simba for being loyal to his evil uncle Scar. Desperate to be together, they must overcome the two obstacles that are keeping them apart: Kovu's mother, Zira, and Simba's prejudices against the Outsiders. It also centers around Simba's father-daughter relationship with Kiara, who has a desire for taking care of herself and being on her own, under her father's protection.
Most of the original cast reprised their roles from the first film, apart from Rowan Atkinson, who was replaced by Edward Hibbert as the voice of Zazu in this film and its follow-up/predecessor The Lion King 1½, and Madge Sinclair, who was the voice of Simba's mother Sarabi in the first film, but died in 1995 after the release of the first film. Her character was written out and did not appear.


Contents  [hide]
1 Plot
2 Voice cast
3 Production
4 Release
5 Reception
6 Music 6.1 Songs
6.2 Soundtrack
7 References
8 External links

Plot[edit]
The animals of the Pridelands gather to witness the celebration of the newborn cub, Kiara, daughter of King Simba and Queen Nala. Simba's father Mufasa proudly watches over the ceremony from the Heavens above. As she grows older, Kiara becomes annoyed with her father's overprotective parenting. Simba assigns Timon and Pumbaa to watch her. Kiara ignores the duo's attention and enters the "Outlands", where she meets Kovu, a cub who unknown to her was chosen by Simba's uncle Scar to be his heir. When Kovu retaliates to Kiara's playing, Simba confronts the young cub just as Zira, Kovu's mother, confronts the lion. Zira reminds Simba of how he exiled her and the other Outsiders also tells him Kovu was hand-chosen to be Scar's successor. After returning to the Pride Lands, Simba sends Nala and the rest of the pride back to Pride Rock while he warns Kiara about the danger posed by the Outsiders. Simba then tells them that they are a part of each other.
Meanwhile in the Outlands, Zira reminds Kovu that Simba killed Scar and was the one who exiled the lions who respect Scar. Kovu explains that he does not think it is so bad to have Kiara as his good friend, but Zira realizes she can use Kovu's friendship with Kiara to exact revenge on Simba.
Many years later, Kiara, now a young adult, heads out for her first solo hunt. As part of Zira's plan, Kovu's siblings Nuka and Vitani, trap her in a fire, allowing Kovu to rescue her. Simba, unwilling to thank the young rogue, is forced to accept Kovu's asylum now that Kovu saved his daughter. Later that night, Simba dreams about attempting to save Mufasa from falling into the stampede but is stopped by Scar who then turns into Kovu and throws Simba off the cliff into the stampede. The next day, Kovu contemplates attacking Simba as he was instructed to, but he goes out to teach Kiara how to hunt instead and hardly realizes the love he has for her at this point. Kovu attempts to confess his mission to Kiara, but Rafiki shows up and leads them to the jungle where he introduces them to "Upendi" — love and two lions ultimately fall in love.
Kovu's guilt drives him to confess about his mission to Kiara. Before he can do so, Simba takes him around the Pride Lands and tells him the real story of Scar, which Kovu had never heard. They fall into an ambush set up by Zira, who orders Kovu to kill Simba, but runs away instead. Nuka, tries to capture and kill Simba, but he is lethally crushed by some of the logs in the dam. Zira blames Kovu for his brother's death and claws him across his eye in anger and frustration. Kovu attempts to return to the Pride Lands and pleads Simba for his forgiveness but is promptly exiled. Furious at Simba, Kiara informs him that he will never be like Mufasa before fleeing to find Kovu. The two young lions later find each other and profess their love. Kiara convinces Kovu to return with her to the Pridelands.
The Outsiders and Pridelanders clash. Zira and Simba confront each other, but Kovu and Kiara intervene and tell them to stop their hostilities. Vitani and the Outsiders side with the Pridelanders. Zira fails to attack Simba when Kiara pushes her over a cliff dangling over a storm-swollen river. Kiara offers Zira her help, but she refuses and dies. Simba helps Kiara back up the cliff, before they, along with Nala, allow the Outsiders and Kovu to rejoin the Pride Lands at Pride Rock and even accept Kovu as his son-in-law and the future king and Kiara the future queen. Simba looks up at the sky to hear the approval of his father and he is proud of him, and the film ends.
Voice cast[edit]
Main article: List of The Lion King characters
Matthew Broderick as Simba, the King of the Pride Lands, son of Mufasa, mate of Nala and father of Kiara. Cam Clarke provides his singing voice. Ian Harrowell served as the supervising animator for Simba.
Moira Kelly as Nala, the Queen of the Pride Lands, mate of Simba and mother of Kiara. Ian Harrowell served as the supervising animator for Nala.
Neve Campbell as Kiara, Simba and Nala's daughter. As a cub, she is voiced by Michelle Horn, with Charity Sanoy providing her child singing voice as a cub, Ashley Edner providing her lion growls as a cub and Liz Callaway providing her adult singing voice. Lianne Hughes served as the supervising animator for Kiara.
Suzanne Pleshette as Zira, the leader of the Outsiders and Scar's most loyal follower and the mother of Nuka, Vitani, and Kovu. Kevin Peaty served as the supervising animator for Zira.
Andy Dick as Nuka, Zira's oldest, Vitani and Kovu's older brother, and the oldest male of Zira's family. Ian Harrowell served as the supervising animator for Nuka.
Nathan Lane as Timon, Simba's meerkat best friend, royal adviser, and Kiara's guardian. Bob Baxter served as the supervising animator for Timon.
Ernie Sabella as Pumbaa, Simba's warthog best friend, royal adviser, and Kiara's guardian. Bob Baxter served as the supervising animator for Pumbaa.
Robert Guillaume as Rafiki, the mandrill shaman of The Pride Lands. Bob Baxter served as the supervising animator for Rafiki.
Jennifer Lien as Vitani, Zira's daughter and Nuka and Kovu's sister. As a cub, she is voiced by Lacey Chabert, with Crysta Macalush providing her singing voice. Kevin Peaty served as the supervising animator for Vitani.
Jason Marsden as Kovu, Zira's son, and Nuka and Vitani's younger brother. Gene Miller provides Kovu's singing voice. As a cub, he is voiced by Ryan O'Donohue. Andrew Collins served as the supervising animator for Kovu.
Edward Hibbert as Zazu (replacing Rowan Atkinson), Simba's hornbill adviser and childhood guardian. Bob Baxter served as the supervising animator for Zazu.
James Earl Jones as Mufasa, the spirit of Simba's late father, the older brother of Scar, Kiara's grandfather, and the previous King of the Pride Lands.
Jim Cummings as Scar (replacing Jeremy Irons), Mufasa's younger brother and Simba's evil uncle. Though Scar does not actually appear in the main body of the movie itself (due to him being eaten alive by the hyenas in the first film), he appears briefly in Simba's nightmare and also makes a brief cameo appearance when Kovu (right after being exiled by Simba) looks at his reflection in a pool of water and his reflection changes into Scar.
Production[edit]
Discussion began about the possibility of a sequel to The Lion King before the first film even hit theaters.[1] In January 1995, it was reported that a Lion King sequel was to be released "in the next twelve months".[2] However, it was delayed, and then it was reported in May 1996 that it would be released in "early next year" of 1997.[3] By 1996, producer Jeannine Roussel and director Darrell Rooney signed on board to produce and direct the sequel.[4] In December 1996, Matthew Broderick was confirmed to be returning as Simba while his wife, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Jennifer Aniston were in talks to voice Aisha, Simba's daughter. Andy Dick was also confirmed to have signed on to voice Nunka, the son of Scar, who attempts to romance Aisha.[5] Ultimately, the character was renamed Kiara, and voiced by Neve Campbell.[6] Nunka was renamed Kovu, and voiced by Jason Marsden.[7] Then-Disney CEO Michael Eisner urged for Kovu's relationship to Scar to be changed during production as being Scar's son would make him Kiara's cousin. According to Rooney, the final draft gradually became a variation of Romeo and Juliet. "It's the biggest love story we have," he explained. "The difference is that you understand the position of the parents in this film in a way you never did in the Shakespeare play."[8] Because none of the original animators were involved in the production, the majority of the animation was done by Walt Disney Television Animation's studio in Sydney, Australia. However, all storyboarding and pre-production work was done at the Feature Animation studio in Burbank, California.[8] By March 1998, Disney confirmed the sequel would be released on October 27, 1998.[9]
Release[edit]
The film was first released on VHS in the United States on October 27, 1998 and on DVD as a limited issue on November 23, 1999. The DVD release featured the film in a letterboxed 1.66:1 aspect ratio, the trailer for the movie, and a music video of "Love Will Find A Way" performed by Heather Headley and Kenny Lattimore.[10] In 1998, Disney believed that The Lion King II: Simba's Pride would be so popular that it shipped 15 million copies to stores for the October 27 release date. In March 2001, it was reported that in its first three day, 3.5 million VHS copies were sold, and ultimately about thirteen million copies were sold.[11] In September 2001, it was reported that Simba's Pride had sold more than 15 million copies.[12] Overall, consumer spending on The Lion King II: Simba's Pride accumulated about $300 million — roughly the same figure of its predecessor's theatrical release at that time,[13] and continues to be one of the top-selling direct-to-video release of all time, with $464.5 million worldwide in sales and rentals.[14]
On August 31, 2004, the film was re-released on VHS and a 2-Disc Special Edition DVD. The DVD edition featured optional pop-up informational commentary, interactive games (the "Virtual Safari") featuring Timon and Pumbaa and Rafiki, five humorous "Find Out Why" shorts, an animated short based on Lebo M's "One By One", and a "Proud of Simba's Pride" featurette.[15] The Special Edition version featured changes made to the film such as Kovu in the water being inexplicably re-animated as well as other alterations.[10] A DVD boxed set of the three The Lion King films (in two-disc Special Edition formats) was released on December 6, 2004. In January 2005, the film, along with the sequels, went back into moratorium.[16]
On October 4, 2011, Simba's Pride was included in an eight-disc box set trilogy set with the other two films.[17] The Blu-ray edition for the film was released as a separate version on March 6, 2012.[18] The Blu-ray edition has three different versions, a 2-disc Blu-ray/DVD combo pack, a 1-disc edition, and a digital download. The Blu-ray edition has also been attached with a new Timon & Pumbaa short, in which the two friends gaze at the night sky as the star constellations resemble their favorite meal, insects.[18] The Blu-ray edition of The Lion King II, along with the other two films in the series, was placed into moratorium on April 30, 2013.[citation needed]
Reception[edit]
The Lion King II: Simba's Pride received mixed to positive reviews. Based on 6 reviews collected by Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 33% from critics with an average score of 5.6/10.[19]
Siskel & Ebert gave the film a "two-thumbs up" and said it was a "satisfactory sequel to one of the most popular films of all time, The Lion King". However, they also said it was best that it went to video, citing that the music was lacking and not remotely equal to the original's soundtrack.[20] TV Guide gave the film 2½ stars out of four, claiming that, despite being of slightly higher quality than Disney's previous direct-to-video animated sequels, "comes nowhere near the level of its big-screen predecessor", either musically or artistically. The review later went on to say that "Though most of the original characters and their voices are back, they all sound bored, apart from the zesty addition of Suzanne Pleshette as the scheming Zira. The overall result is OK for kids, who will enjoy the low humor provided by the comical meerkat Timon and the flatulent warthog Pumbaa, but it could have been so much better."[21] Writing for Variety, Joe Leydon commented in his review that "In marked contrast to most of the studio's small screen sequels to bigscreen animated hits, the new pic isn’t merely kids' stuff. Not unlike its predecessor, Lion King II has enough across-the-board appeal to entertain viewers of all ages."[22] Caryn James of The New York Times concluded her review with "It's the rare sequel that matches the creative flair of an original, of course. The Lion King II may be derivative, but it is also winning on its own."[7] Entertainment Weekly critic Stephen Witty, who graded the sequel a C+, wrote "Despite its drawbacks, The Lion King II could make a decent rental for undemanding under-7 fans of the original, who won't be overburdened by the psychodrama. For true believers who've already watched and rewound their copies to shreds, it might even make a good buy. And for them, hey, hakuna matata. But for the rest of us, caveat emptor might be a better motto."[23] James Plath of Movie Metropolis gave the film 6/10, saying that, "Simply put, we've seen it all before."[24] Felix Vasquez Jr. of Cinema Crazed called it "A retread of "The Fox and the Hound".[25]
Music[edit]
Songs[edit]
The songwriters were Marty Panzer, Tom Snow, Kevin Quinn, Randy Petersen, Mark Mancina, Jay Rifkin, Lebo M, Jack Feldman, Scott Warrender, and Joss Whedon.
"He Lives in You" – Sung by Lebo M and his African choir. This song represents Kiara's birth and is the equivalent of "Circle of Life". The song is a direct reference to when Rafiki told Simba in the first film that Mufasa "lives" in him. Also appears in the Broadway version of the first film. The end title is performed by Tina Turner.
"We Are One" – Sung by Cam Clarke and Charity Sanoy. Following Kiara's encounter with Kovu and Zira in which she endangers herself, Simba explains how important she is to the pride and that the pride is one. It can be seen as the musical equivalent to the first film's talk about the Great Kings of the Past with Mufasa and Simba.
"My Lullaby" – Sung by Suzanne Pleshette, Andy Dick, and Crysta Macalush. Zira's lullaby to Kovu, which outlines her plot for him to kill Simba and how proud it would make her. The equivalent to "Be Prepared" as both songs detail the murder plots of the two villains. There are several allusions to the first film, including the similarities in the ending sequences of both songs and Zira's treatment of Nuka during the song, which resembles Scar's abuse of Shenzi, Banzai and Ed.
"Upendi" (Swahili for "love") – Sung by Robert Guillaume, Liz Callaway, Gene Miller, and Ladysmith Black Mambazo. Rafiki's song to Kiara and Kovu about love, friendship, and happiness. Sung by Rafiki and his animal friends. Also the equivalent to "Hakuna Matata", from the first film, as well as "I Just Can't Wait to Be King" visually.
"Not One of Us" – Sung following Kovu being exiled by Simba after he wrongfully accuses Kovu of betraying him. This was the first time the animals other than lions outside of the main characters (excluding Lion King 1½) have been seen talking. This is the only song to not have an equivalent to the first film, but may lyrically reflect on Mufasa's or Scar's death.
"Love Will Find a Way" – Sung by Liz Callaway and Gene Miller. A romantic love song that includes of Kiara and Kovu's first encounter following Kovu's banishment. The pair concludes that their mutual feelings for each other are too strong and true for their differences to keep them apart. Similar to "Can You Feel the Love Tonight". The end title version is performed by R&B artists Kenny Lattimore and Heather Headley.
Soundtrack[edit]
An audio CD entitled Return to Pride Rock: Songs Inspired by Disney's The Lion King II: Simba's Pride was released on September 8, 1998. Although not promoted as a soundtrack to the film, it contained all the songs from the film and some additional songs inspired by it by Lebo M.
References[edit]
1.Jump up ^ Horn, John HIGH-PROFILE SEQUELS WILL SKIP THEATERS FOR HOME SCREENINGS Associated Press. May 23, 1994. "The studio is so confident in the sequel's success, it already is considering a direct-to-video sequel to The Lion King – which doesn't arrive in theaters until June."
2.Jump up ^ Bloomberg News Service (January 31, 1995). "Sequel To 'Lion King' Set To Roar Into Vcrs Within The Next Year". Burbank: Orlando Sentinel. Retrieved August 15, 2014.
3.Jump up ^ Hettrick, Scott (May 24, 1996). "Disney to Offer Original Made For Home Videos". Entertainment News Service (Sun-Sentinel). Retrieved August 15, 2014.
4.Jump up ^ Roussell, Jeannine and Darrell Rooney. Lady and the Tramp II: Scamp's Adventure audio commentary: DVD, Backstage Disney, 2006.
5.Jump up ^ Fleming, Mike (December 4, 1996). "‘Blackout’ awakens at Miramax; Hammer hit". Variety. Retrieved August 15, 2014.
6.Jump up ^ "`Lion Queen' Going Straight To Video". New York Daily News (Sun-Sentinel). September 2, 1998. Retrieved August 15, 2014.
7.^ Jump up to: a b James, Caryn (October 23, 1998). "VIDEO REVIEW; A 'Lion King' With Girls as Stars". The New York Times. Retrieved August 24, 2014.
8.^ Jump up to: a b King, Susan (October 26, 1998). "'LION KING' - Roaring Only in Stores". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved August 15, 2014.
9.Jump up ^ Hartl, Joe (March 5, 1998). "Disney's The `King' Again Among Animated Releases". The Seattle Times. Retrieved August 24, 2014.
10.^ Jump up to: a b "TLK on Home Video". lionking.org.
11.Jump up ^ Hettrick, Steve (March 6, 2001). "‘Tramp’ sequel scampers into vid paydirt". Variety. Retrieved August 15, 2014.
12.Jump up ^ Hettrick, Steve (September 18, 2001). "Disney ramps up vid-preem sequel slate". Variety. Retrieved August 15, 2014.
13.Jump up ^ Herrick, Scott (October 26, 2003). "There’s gold in them DVDs". Variety. Retrieved August 15, 2014.
14.Jump up ^ Dutka, Elaine (August 20, 2005). "Straight-to-video: Straight to the bank". Los Angeles Times (Chicago Tribune). Retrieved August 15, 2014.
15.Jump up ^ Chitwood, Scott. "The Lion King 2: Simba's Pride". Coming Soon. Retrieved August 15, 2014.
16.Jump up ^ "Out of Print Disney DVDs". UltimateDisney.com. Retrieved August 15, 2014.
17.Jump up ^ "Audiences to Experience Disney's "The Lion King" Like Never Before". PR News Wire. May 26, 2011. Retrieved May 26, 2011.
18.^ Jump up to: a b Lui, Ed (December 20, 2011). "Lion King 1 1/2" and "Lion King 2" Coming to Blu-ray, DVD, and Digital on March 6, 2012". Toon Zone. Retrieved December 22, 2011.
19.Jump up ^ "The Lion King 2 - Simba's Pride (1998)". Rotten Tomatoes. Flixster. Retrieved August 15, 2014.
20.Jump up ^ "The Lion King II: Simba's Pride – Siskel & Ebert".
21.Jump up ^ "The Lion King II: Simba's Pride Review". Movies.tvguide.com. Retrieved July 21, 2012.
22.Jump up ^ Leydon, Joe (October 19, 1998). "Review: ‘The Lion King II: Simba’s Pride’". Variety. Retrieved August 15, 2014.
23.Jump up ^ Witty, Stephen (October 30, 1998). "The Lion King II: Simba's Pride Review". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved August 15, 2014.
24.Jump up ^ Plath, James (March 3, 2012). "THE LION KING 2: SIMBA'S PRIDE – Blu-ray review". Movie Metropolis. Retrieved July 21, 2012.
25.Jump up ^ Felix Vasquez Jr. (May 9, 2013). "The Lion King 2: Simba’s Pride (1998)". Cinema Crazed. Retrieved July 31, 2013.
External links[edit]

Portal icon Disney portal
Portal icon Animation portal
Portal icon Film portal
Official website
The Lion King II: Simba's Pride at AllMovie
The Lion King II: Simba's Pride at the Big Cartoon DataBase
The Lion King II: Simba's Pride at the Internet Movie Database
The Lion King II: Simba's Pride at Rotten Tomatoes


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The Lion King (franchise)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search



 This article's lead section may not adequately summarize key points of its contents. Please consider expanding the lead to provide an accessible overview of all important aspects of the article. (January 2010)

The Lion King
LionKingTrilogyBluray.jpg
Creator
Jeffrey Katzenberg
Roy E. Disney
Peter Schneider
 
Films and television

Films
The Lion King
The Lion King II: Simba's Pride
The Lion King 1½
 
Animated series
The Lion King's Timon and Pumbaa
The Lion King
Theatrical presentations

Plays
The Legend of the Lion King
Festival of the Lion King
 
Musicals
The Lion King
Games

Video games
The Lion King
The Lion King: Simba's Mighty Adventure
Timon & Pumbaa's Jungle Games
The Lion King 1½
 
Miscellaneous

Parades
The Lion King Celebration
The Lion King is a Disney media franchise comprising a film series and additional merchandise. The success of the original 1994 American animated feature, The Lion King, directed by Roger Allers and Rob Minkoff, led to two direct-to-video sequel films, a spin-off television series, several video games, merchandise, and the 5th longest-running musical in Broadway history, which garnered six Tony Awards including Best Musical.


Contents  [hide]
1 Titles 1.1 Films
1.2 Television series
1.3 Broadway musical
1.4 Games
1.5 Other media
2 Common elements 2.1 Plot and themes
2.2 Cast and characters
3 Development 3.1 History
3.2 Music
4 Reception 4.1 Box office performance
4.2 Critical reaction
5 References

Titles[edit]
Films[edit]
The Lion King is the original film of the franchise. It was directed by Roger Allers and Rob Minkoff. It was produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation, premiered in selected cities on June 15, 1994, and widely released to theaters on June 24, 1994 by Walt Disney Pictures.[1] The Lion King is the 32nd film in the Walt Disney Animated Classics and belongs to an era known as the Disney Renaissance.[2] The plot of the film is heavily influenced by the William Shakespeare play Hamlet.[3] Its animation design is very similar to Osamu Tezuka's anime Kimba the White Lion.
The Lion King II: Simba's Pride was released by Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment on VHS in the United States on October 27, 1998. It was directed by Darrell Rooney. It was first released on DVD as a limited issue on November 23, 1999, and placed into moratorium on January 19, 2000. It was not released again on DVD until August 31, 2004, when it was a two-disc special edition. It went into moratorium in January 2005. The plot of this film is heavily influenced by another Shakespeare play, Romeo and Juliet.[4]
The Lion King 1½, also known as The Lion King 3: Hakuna Matata in some countries, is the second direct-to-video installment of the film series. It was released by Walt Disney Home Entertainment on February 10, 2004. The DVD went to the Disney Vault in January 2005. The film is a chronologically concurrent sequel to the first film, focusing on Timon and Pumbaa. It was somewhat influenced by the Tom Stoppard's play Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, in which the titular characters are seen in every major event of Hamlet.[5][6][7][8]
Television series[edit]
Main article: Timon & Pumbaa (TV series)
The Lion King: The Lion King's Timon & Pumbaa is a spin-off cartoon series that centers on Timon and Pumbaa. The show ran for three seasons on CBS in the United States, and BBS in Canada from September 1, 1995 to November 1, 1998. In 1998, a change in writers and a new director meant the show became aimed more towards children than the whole family . As a result of this, ratings declined and the show was canceled. Since February 8, 2009 (after its final airing on the now-defunct Toon Disney before replaced by Disney XD), this show was no longer on the air, but has returned along with some other favorites on March 23, 2012, as part of the new Disney Junior TV channel.
Disney Junior logo variations parts characters for Rafiki Old Monkey, Mufasa Lion, Zazu, Timon Weasel, Pumbaa Pig Forest and Three Dog Wolf Wild Hyena. The Lion King: The Lion King's Timon & Pumbaa, Afternoon 4:30 pm (Singapore/Malaysia) on Disney Junior, coming in June.
The series had a direct-to-video film named Around the World with Timon and Pumbaa. The story tells of Pumbaa getting struck by lightning, losing all his memory, and Timon helps refrain every moment they spent. After Pumbaa gets his memory back, lightning strikes Timon losing his memory this time, making Pumbaa break the fourth wall by telling the viewers to rewind the tape to start at the beginning, being it was the only way to help Timon remember. Several episodes from the series are featured in this film. Aside from this film, two other DVDs, Dining Out... and On Holiday... are an hour compilation of other episodes. No DVDs have been released in the US, but were released on VHS.
On June 9, 2014, it was announced that a second TV show called The Lion Guard was slated to premiere on Disney Junior in November 2015 as a one-hour movie, followed by new episodes in January 2016. The series will center around Simba and Nala's son Kion, who tries to assemble a team to protect the Pride Lands. Various characters from the first two films will also make appearances in the show, includ­ing Kiara, Timon, Pum­baa, Rafiki, Zazu, and Mufasa.[9][10] It will also fea­ture new char­ac­ters, includ­ing Fuli, a con­fi­dent chee­tah; Beshte, a happy-go-lucky hippo; Ono, an intel­lec­tual egret; and Bunga, a fear­less honey bad­ger. The new characters are set to be friends with Kion and join him on his adventures.[11]
Broadway musical[edit]
Main article: The Lion King (musical)
A musical, based on the original animated film, debuted July 8, 1997, in Minneapolis, Minnesota at the Orpheum Theatre. Directed by Julie Taymor, produced by Disney Theatrical, and written by the co-director of the original film, Roger Allers, with writer Irene Mecchi. The musical features actors in elaborate animal costumes, and complex puppetry, created by Taymor and Michael Curry. The musical is divided in two acts (with the first act ending when Simba transforms from cub into adult lion) and has music by Elton John and lyrics by Tim Rice, along with the musical score created by Hans Zimmer with choral arrangements by Lebo M.[12] The musical incorporates several changes and additions to the storyline as compared to the film, as well as adding more songs.
The musical became a success even before premiering on Broadway at the New Amsterdam Theater on October 15, 1997 in previews with the official opening on November 13, 1997. On June 13, 2006, the Broadway production moved to the Minskoff Theatre to make way for the musical version of Mary Poppins, where it is still running.[13] It is now Broadway's seventh longest-running show in history. The show debuted in the West End's Lyceum Theatre on October 19, 1999 and is still running. The cast of the West End production were invited to perform at the Royal Variety Performance 2008 at the London Palladium on December 11, in the presence of senior members of the British Royal Family.[14] Other productions within the U.S. include a Los Angeles production at the Pantages Theatre, at Charlotte in the Blumenthal Performing Arts Center, and a Las Vegas production at Mandalay Bay.[15] International productions include a British at the Lyceum Theatre in London, a Canadian at the Princess of Wales Theatre in Toronto, a Mexican in Mexico City,[16] and an African in Johannesburg, South Africa,[17] among others. The first ever UK tour opened at Bristol Hippodrome on 31 August 2012.
Games[edit]
Two video games based on the first film have been released. The first, titled The Lion King, was published in 1994 by Virgin and was released for the NES (only in Europe), SNES, Game Boy, Sega Master System, Sega Mega Drive/Genesis, Game Gear, PC, and Amiga.[18] The second game, called The Lion King: Simba's Mighty Adventure, was published in 2000 by Activision and was released for the PlayStation and Game Boy Color.[19] It was based on the first film and its storyline continued into the sequel.
In 1996, Disney Interactive and 7th Level released Timon & Pumbaa's Jungle Games for the PC. It was later seen on the SNES. The Games include: one in which Pumbaa uses his gas to destroy fruits and bugs (and even a kitchen sink) that fall out of trees, a variation of pinball, a game where you use a peashooter to hit enemy creatures in the jungle, a game where Timon has to jump onto hippos in order to cross a river to deliver bugs to Pumbaa, and a variation of Puyo Puyo called Bug Drop.[20]
A game called The Lion King 1½ was published in 2003 for the Game Boy Advance, based on the direct-to-video film and featuring Timon and Pumbaa as the playable characters.[21] Some of the film's characters are playable in Disney's Extreme Skate Adventure, a spin off of the Tony Hawk games. In the Disney Interactive Studios and Square Enix video game Kingdom Hearts, Simba appears as an ally that Sora can summon during battles.[22] He also appears again as a summon character in Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories. In Kingdom Hearts II, the Pride Lands are a playable world and a number of characters from the film appear.[23] Simba is also a playable character in the video game Disney Friends.
Other media[edit]
A 70 mm film entitled Circle of Life: An Environmental Fable is shown in the Harvest Theater in The Land Pavilion at Epcot in Walt Disney World, Orlando, Florida. It opened on January 21, 1995 replacing Symbiosis. Compared to the said film, Circle of Life is more an edutainment attraction and more kid-friendly. In the film, Timon and Pumbaa are chopping down trees and clogging up rivers to build the Hakuna Matata Lakeside Village. Simba comes to them and explains how their actions are harmful to nature. This lesson is explained with live-action footage, some left over from Symbiosis.
The Legend of the Lion King was an underground stage performance retelling the story of the film using fully articulated puppets in Magic Kingdom's Fantasyland. This attraction ran from June 1994 to February 2002.
A Broadway-caliber short-form stage musical named Festival of the Lion King is performed live in Disney's Animal Kingdom at Walt Disney World, Florida and in Adventureland at Hong Kong Disneyland. It uses the concept of tribal celebration in combination with ideas from Disney's Electrical Parade. The show is in the form of a revue, and not a condensed version of either the film or Broadway show. However, it features the award-winning music from the first film, written by Elton John and Tim Rice. The show uses songs, dance, puppetry and visual effects to create an African savannah setting filled with lions, elephants, giraffes, birds, zebras and gazelles.
The Lion King Celebration was a parade based on the film that ran at Disneyland from June 1, 1994 to June 1, 1997. It was designed as though the story of Simba was a tale passed down in Africa for generations.[24] The parade featured six floats designed around different aspects of Africa, dancers dressed in animal costumes and a Pride Rock float featuring Simba and Nala.
Many characters from The Lion King appear in the Disney Channel series Disney's House of Mouse.[25] Some of them also appear in the series' spin-off films Mickey's Magical Christmas: Snowed in at the House of Mouse and Mickey's House of Villains. The characters also appear at Walt Disney Parks and Resorts as a meet and greet characters.
Common elements[edit]
Plot and themes[edit]
The story is set in a kingdom of anthropomorphic animals in Africa known as the Pride Lands, where a lion rules over the other animals as king.[3] The Lion King begins when Rafiki, a mandrill, anoints Simba, the newborn cub of King Mufasa and Queen Sarabi, presenting him to a gathering of animals at the Pride Rock. Simba is next seen as a young lion, with Mufasa teaching him about the "Circle of Life". Simba's uncle and Mufasa's brother Scar plots to take the throne for himself and tells Simba about an elephant graveyard, a place where Mufasa has warned Simba not to go. When Simba and his best friend Nala go to the place, Shenzi, Banzai and Ed, three hyenas aligned with Scar, attack and try to kill Simba and Nala, but they are stopped by Mufasa. Scar next plan is to lure Simba into a gorge while the hyenas create a wildebeest stampede. Alerted by Scar, Mufasa races to rescue Simba from the stampede. He saves his son but is left clinging to the edge of a cliff, which results in Scar flinging him into the stampede below and killing him. Scar next convinces Simba that the young lion is responsible of Mufasa's death and tells him to run away, only to later order the hyenas to kill Simba, but they fail. Scar informs the pride that both Mufasa and Simba were killed and that he is assuming the throne as the next in line. Simba is later found unconscious by Timon and Pumbaa, who adopt and raise him. It is not until Simba is a young adult lion that he meets Nala again, and the two lions fall in love. Along with Rafiki, Nala convinces Simba to return to the Pride Lands and claim the throne. Simba, along with Nala, Timon, and Pumbaa go to the Pride Rock, where Simba confront and eventually defeat Scar, who is later killed and devoured by his own army of hyenas as a result of Scar's blaming of the hyenas for Mufasa's death. The film concludes with the Pride Lands turning green with life again and Rafiki presenting Simba and Nala's newborn cub.
The Lion King II: Simba's Pride begins with the presentation of Simba and Nala's cub named Kiara. Simba is very protective of his daughter and assigns Timon and Pumbaa to be her guardians. One day, after an argument between Simba and Kiara, the young lioness sneaks into the Outlands, the place in which a group of lions loyal to Scar reside after Simba exiles them from the Pride Lands. In the Outlands, Kiara meets a young lion named Kovu, Scar's hand-chosen successor, and the two of them befriend each other until Simba and Kovu's mother, Zira arrive and a fight between Pride Landers and Outsiders almost takes place. Later in the film, Zira decides that she can use Kovu's new friendship with Kiara to get her revenge against Simba. Kiara is next seen as a young adult lioness and is set to go for her first solo-hunt, but discovers that her father still sends Timon and Pumbaa to watch her. Furious, Kiara goes further from home until Zira's other children, Nuka and Vitani, set fire to the plains where Kiara is hunting, causing her to faint and giving Kovu the chance to rescue her. Simba finds that Kovu has helped Kiara and reluctantly allows him into the Pride Lands. While Simba struggles with the idea of accepting Kovu, Kiara and Kovu eventually fall in love. One morning, Simba invites Kovu for a walk but they are ambushed by Zira and her pride. They attack Simba but, while chasing him, Nuka dies, resulting in Zira blaming and attacking Kovu for his death giving him a scar over his left eye. A wounded Simba exiles Kovu as he thinks Kovu was behind the ambush, but Kiara reunites with Kovu away from the Pride Rock. Meanwhile, Zira leads her pride in a war against the Pride Lands and a fierce battle breaks out. Kovu and Kiara leap between them and Kiara reminds her father that, by his own words, "we are one". Zira ignores her, but Vitani and the other Outsiders agree. Now alone, Zira leaps for Simba, but Kiara pushes her away and they fall over a cliff. Kiara lands on a rock, but Zira slips and falls to her death. Simba allows the Outsiders, including Kovu, to return to the Pride Lands, and Kovu is allowed to stand with Kiara at the top of Pride Rock.
The Lion King 1½ is a retelling of the events of the first film from Timon and Pumbaa's perspective.
The plot of The Lion King's Timon & Pumbaa centers on its title characters. The pair are normally seen having misadventures in the jungle, but sometimes find themselves across the globe in various settings. A pre-existing storyline of how Timon met Pumbaa appeared in this series. This episode's relation to The Lion King canon is questionable with the introduction of The Lion King 1½.
Cast and characters[edit]
Main article: List of The Lion King characters
A total of thirteen supervising animators from Walt Disney Animation Studios and Disney-MGM Studios were responsible for establishing the personalities and setting the tone for the first film's main characters. The animation team studied real-life animals for reference, as was done for the earlier film Bambi.[26] The animation of the characters counted with supervision by wildlife experts such as Jim Fowler, who visited the studio on several occasions with an assortment of lions and other jungle inhabitants to discuss behavior and help the animators give their drawings an authentic feel. He taught them how lions greet one another by gently butting heads, and show affection by placing one's head under the other's chin, mannerisms that can be appreciated in Simba and Nala's encounter during the song "Can You Feel the Love Tonight". Fowler also talked about how they protect themselves by lying on their backs and using their claws to ward off attackers, and how they fight rivals by rising on their hind legs.[27] Screenwriter Irene Mecchi joined the directing team to help in the character development process as well as to define each character's personality. Story head Brenda Chapman, gave insight to the challenge of the characters and the story by stating "It was our job to make the main character likeable and sympathetic. It was also challenging to make the environment and characters interesting. In real life, lions basically sleep, eat and have no props."[27]

List indicator(s)
A dark grey cell indicates the character was not in that medium.

Character
Films
TV Shows
Shorts
Others

The Lion King
The Lion King II: Simba's Pride
The Lion King 1½
Timon & Pumbaa
Wild About Safety
Mickey Mouse Works
House of Mouse
Mickey's Magical Christmas: Snowed in at the House of Mouse
Mickey's House of Villains

Rafiki
Robert Guillaume
Simba
Jonathan Taylor Thomas
Jason Weaver
Matthew Broderick
Joseph Williams Matthew Broderick
Cam Clarke Matt Weinberg
Matthew Broderick Cam Clarke   Cam Clarke Cam Clarke
Timon
Nathan Lane Nathan Lane
Kevin Schon
Quinton Flynn Bruce Lanoil (Cameo) Kevin Schon (no voice actor)
Pumbaa
Ernie Sabella   Ernie Sabella  
Zazu
Rowan Atkinson Edward Hibbert Michael Gough   (no voice actor)  
Nala
Niketa Calame
Moira Kelly
Sally Dworsky Moira Kelly   (no voice actress)
Scar
Jeremy Irons Jim Cummings (no voice actor)   (no voice actor)  
Shenzi
Whoopi Goldberg   Whoopi Goldberg Tress MacNeille   (no voice actress)   (no voice actress)
Banzai
Cheech Marin   Cheech Marin Rob Paulsen   (no voice actor)   (no voice actor)
Ed
Jim Cummings   Jim Cummings   Jim Cummings   Jim Cummings
Mufasa
James Earl Jones (no voice actor)   Keith David  
Kiara
(cameo only) Michelle Horn
 Charity Savoy
Neve Campbell
Liz Callaway  
Sarabi
Madge Sinclair  
Sarafina
Zoe Leader  
Kovu
  Ryan O' Donahue
Jason Marsden
Gene Miller  
Zira
  Suzanne Pleshette  
Vitani
  Lacey Chabert
 Crysta Macalush
Jennifer Lien  
Nuka
  Andy Dick  
Ma
  Julie Kavner Mentioned only  
Uncle Max
  Jerry Stiller  
Development[edit]
History[edit]
Early production of The Lion King began in late 1988, with the film originally being titled King of the Kalahari and later King of the Jungle.[28] The treatment, inspired by Hamlet, was written by Thomas M. Disch (author of The Brave Little Toaster) as work-for-hire; Disch received no credit or royalties. Production took place at the Walt Disney Animation Studios in Glendale, California. Also, nearly 20 minutes of the film were animated at the Disney-MGM Studios.[27] Ultimately, more than 600 artists, animators and technicians contributed to The Lion King over its lengthy production schedule. More than one million drawings were created for the film, including 1,197 hand-painted backgrounds and 119,058 individually colored frames of film.[27]
In October 1991, after finishing work on Beauty and the Beast as Head of Story, Roger Allers joined The Lion King, as the initial director. Allers worked for 6 months on story development and was then joined by co-director, Rob Minkoff. A 2-day story session was held to revamp the story with the two directors, Allers and Minkoff, joined by Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise, directors of Beauty and the Beast, and Producer Don Hahn who presided over the discussion. The creative think-tank produced a character makeover for Simba and a radically revised second half of the film.[27] Irene Mecchi joined the team that summer to help further develop the characters and define their personalities. Several months later, she was joined by Jonathan Roberts in the rewriting process. Working together in the animation department and in conjunction with the directors and story team, they tackled the unresolved emotional issues in the script and also added many comic situations.[27] Some of the lead production crew made a trip to Africa to better understand the environment for the film. The trip gave production designer Chris Sanders a new appreciation for the natural environments and inspired him to find ways to incorporate these elements into the design of the film.[27] The filmmakers also made use of computers to better present their vision in new ways. The most notable use of computer animation is in the "wildebeest stampede" sequence. Several distinct wildebeest characters were created in a 3D computer program, multiplied into hundreds, cel shaded to look like drawn animation, and given randomized paths down a mountainside to simulate the real, unpredictable movement of a herd. Similar multiplication occurs in the "Be Prepared" musical number with identical marching hyenas.[29] Five specially trained animators and technicians spent more than two years creating the 2½ minute stampede sequence.[27]
At one time, the Disney Feature Animation staff felt The Lion King was less important than Pocahontas.[3] Both projects were in production at the same time, and most of the staff preferred to work on Pocahontas, believing it would be the more prestigious and successful of the two.[3] As it turned out, while both films were commercial successes, The Lion King received more positive feedback and larger grosses than Pocahontas.[30][31][32]
The sequel The Lion King II: Simba's Pride was directed by Darrell Rooney and produced by Jeannine Roussel, with Flip Kobler and Cindy Marcus writing the screenplay. Disney believed that Simba's Pride would be so popular that it shipped 15 million copies to stores for the October 27 release date.[33]
Music[edit]
The original motion picture soundtrack for the first film was released on June 13, 1994, two days before the film's release. It contains songs by songwriter Elton John and Tim Rice, who wrote five original songs, with Elton John performing "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" during the end credits. Additionally, "The Morning Report", a song which was not present in the original theatrical film, was later added to the IMAX theater and to the DVD Platinum Edition release. The film's score was composed by Hans Zimmer and supplemented with traditional African music and choir elements arranged by Lebo M.[34] Elton John thought his career had hit a new low when he was writing the music to the song "Hakuna Matata".[35] However, the strongly enthusiastic audience reception to an early film trailer which consisted solely of the opening sequence with the song "Circle of Life", suggested that the film would be very successful. Out of the five original songs, "Hakuna Matata" was listed at number 99 in the AFI's 100 Years... 100 Songs list in 2004,[36] and "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" won the Oscar for Best Original Song during the 67th Academy Awards. The soundtrack itself was the fourth best-selling album of 1994 on the Billboard 200 and the top-selling soundtrack.[37]
Disney Records released Rhythm of the Pride Lands on February 28, 1995 as a sequel to the soundtrack of the first film. Rhythm of the Pride Lands was initially printed in a very limited quantity. However, it was re-released in 2003, included in some international versions of The Lion King's special edition soundtrack with an additional track, "Circle of Life".
An audio CD entitled Return to Pride Rock: Songs Inspired by Disney's The Lion King II: Simba's Pride was released on September 8, 1998. Although not promoted as a soundtrack to The Lion King II: Simba's Pride, it contained all the songs from the film and some additional songs inspired by it by Lebo M. Tina Turner recorded a version of "He Lives in You" for the film. On August 31, 2004, Disney released an "enhanced soundtrack" to coincide with the release of the film's 2-Disc Special Edition DVD. However, the CD only contains the songs featured in the film, without any of the inspired songs by the first film. Siskel & Ebert noted that it was best the film was direct-to-video, since the music was lacking and not remotely equal to the original's soundtrack.[38]
The soundtrack for the third film, The Lion King 1½: Songs From Timon and Pumbaa's Hilarious Adventure, was released to CD by Disney Records on February 10, 2004. It includes two songs from the original film, "That's All I Need" and "Hakuna Matata", re-performed by Nathan Lane who took over the role of voicing the character Timon. The rest of the soundtrack includes various R&B tracks, including remakes of the Kool and the Gang classic "Jungle Boogie" by artist French, and two instrumental pieces from film composer Don Harper. Ennio Morricone was the original composer of "The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly".[39]
Reception[edit]
During its release in 1994, The Lion King was widely appraised and acclaimmed, grossed more than $783 million worldwide, becoming the most successful film released that year, and it is currently the thirty-first grossing feature film of all time. The film was the highest grossing animated film of all time until the release of Disney/Pixar's Finding Nemo, a computer-animated film. The Lion King is still the highest grossing traditionally animated film of all time in the United States.[40][41] The film received many award nominations. It won the Academy Award for Best Original Score,[42] the Golden Globe award for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy,[43] and the Annie Award for Best Animated Feature.[44] The song "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" alone won the Academy Award for Best Original Song, the Golden Globe for Best Original Song, the BMI Film Music Award, and the Grammy Award for Best Vocal Performance Male.
The Lion King II: Simba's Pride sold 3.5 million copies in three days. Thirteen million copies were sold while it was still in print in the late 90s.[45] Both sequels won the Annie Award for Best Animated Home Entertainment Production. The Lion King 1½ also won five DVD Exclusive Awards. The musical won six Tony Awards including Best Musical.[46][47]
Box office performance[edit]
Film Release date Box Office
United States Outside US Worldwide
The Lion King June 15, 1994[1] $422,783,777[48] $564,700,000[48] $987,483,777[48]
The Lion King: The Musical November 13, 1997 Direct-to-Video Direct-to-Video Direct-to-Video
The Lion King II: Simba's Pride October 27, 1998 Direct-to-Video Direct-to-Video Direct-to-Video
The Lion King 1½ February 10, 2004 Direct-to-Video Direct-to-Video Direct-to-Video
Critical reaction[edit]
Media Rotten Tomatoes Metacritic Yahoo! Movies
The Lion King (1994 film) 90% (110 reviews)[31] 83% (14 reviews)[49] A+ (6 reviews)[50]
The Lion King (1997 musical) 45% (7 reviews)[citation needed]    
The Lion King II: Simba's Pride (1998 film) 33% (6 reviews)[51]    
The Lion King: Simba's Mighty Adventure (2000 video game)   30%[52]  
The Lion King 1½ (2003 video game)   64%[53]  
The Lion King 1½ (2004 film) 76% (17 reviews)[54]    
References[edit]
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47.Jump up ^ "The Lion King Study Guide". disney.go.com. Retrieved 2008-08-14.
48.^ Jump up to: a b c "The Lion King (1994)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2011-04-17.
49.Jump up ^ "The Lion King". Metacritic. Retrieved 2010-01-02.
50.Jump up ^ "The Lion King - Critics Reviews". Yahoo! Movies. Retrieved 2010-01-02.
51.Jump up ^ "The Lion King 2 - Simba's Pride". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved August 1, 2013.
52.Jump up ^ http://www.metacritic.com/game/playstation/disneys-the-lion-king-simbas-mighty-adventure
53.Jump up ^ http://www.metacritic.com/game/game-boy-advance/disneys-the-lion-king-1-12
54.Jump up ^ "The Lion King 1 1/2". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved August 1, 2013.


[hide]
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The Lion King

 
Films
The Lion King (1994) ·
 The Lion King II: Simba's Pride (1998) ·
 The Lion King 1½ (2004)
 
 
Theater
The Lion King (1997)
 
 
Television and short films
Timon & Pumbaa (1995-9) ·
 Disney's House of Mouse (2001-3) ·
 Wild About Safety
 
 
Characters
Simba ·
 Timon and Pumbaa ·
 Scar
 
 
Music


The Lion King (inspired by)
"Circle of Life" ·
 "I Just Can't Wait to Be King" ·
 "Be Prepared" ·
 "Hakuna Matata" ·
 "Can You Feel the Love Tonight"
 
 
The Lion King II and 1½
"He Lives in You" ·
 "We Are One" ·
 "My Lullaby" ·
 "Upendi" ·
 "Not One of Us" ·
 "Love Will Find a Way" ·
 "Digga Tunnah"
 
 
The Lion King musical
"The Morning Report" ·
 "Endless Night" ·
 "The Madness of King Scar" ·
 "Shadowland"
 

 
Video games
The Lion King (1994) ·
 Disney's Animated Storybook: The Lion King (1994) ·
 Disney's The Lion King Activity Center (1995) ·
 Timon & Pumbaa's Jungle Games (1996) ·
 The Lion King: Simba's Mighty Adventure (2000) ·
 The Lion King 1½ (2003)
 
 
Attractions
Circle of Life: An Environmental Fable ·
 The Legend of the Lion King ·
 Festival of the Lion King ·
 The Lion King Celebration ·
 Hakuna Matata Restaurant ·
 Affection Section ·
 Habitat Habit!: The Lion King ·
 Wildlife Express Train
 

 


Categories: The Lion King
Animated film series
American animated films
Disney franchises
Lions in popular culture
Film trilogies
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The Lion King (franchise)
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 This article's lead section may not adequately summarize key points of its contents. Please consider expanding the lead to provide an accessible overview of all important aspects of the article. (January 2010)

The Lion King
LionKingTrilogyBluray.jpg
Creator
Jeffrey Katzenberg
Roy E. Disney
Peter Schneider
 
Films and television

Films
The Lion King
The Lion King II: Simba's Pride
The Lion King 1½
 
Animated series
The Lion King's Timon and Pumbaa
The Lion King
Theatrical presentations

Plays
The Legend of the Lion King
Festival of the Lion King
 
Musicals
The Lion King
Games

Video games
The Lion King
The Lion King: Simba's Mighty Adventure
Timon & Pumbaa's Jungle Games
The Lion King 1½
 
Miscellaneous

Parades
The Lion King Celebration
The Lion King is a Disney media franchise comprising a film series and additional merchandise. The success of the original 1994 American animated feature, The Lion King, directed by Roger Allers and Rob Minkoff, led to two direct-to-video sequel films, a spin-off television series, several video games, merchandise, and the 5th longest-running musical in Broadway history, which garnered six Tony Awards including Best Musical.


Contents  [hide]
1 Titles 1.1 Films
1.2 Television series
1.3 Broadway musical
1.4 Games
1.5 Other media
2 Common elements 2.1 Plot and themes
2.2 Cast and characters
3 Development 3.1 History
3.2 Music
4 Reception 4.1 Box office performance
4.2 Critical reaction
5 References

Titles[edit]
Films[edit]
The Lion King is the original film of the franchise. It was directed by Roger Allers and Rob Minkoff. It was produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation, premiered in selected cities on June 15, 1994, and widely released to theaters on June 24, 1994 by Walt Disney Pictures.[1] The Lion King is the 32nd film in the Walt Disney Animated Classics and belongs to an era known as the Disney Renaissance.[2] The plot of the film is heavily influenced by the William Shakespeare play Hamlet.[3] Its animation design is very similar to Osamu Tezuka's anime Kimba the White Lion.
The Lion King II: Simba's Pride was released by Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment on VHS in the United States on October 27, 1998. It was directed by Darrell Rooney. It was first released on DVD as a limited issue on November 23, 1999, and placed into moratorium on January 19, 2000. It was not released again on DVD until August 31, 2004, when it was a two-disc special edition. It went into moratorium in January 2005. The plot of this film is heavily influenced by another Shakespeare play, Romeo and Juliet.[4]
The Lion King 1½, also known as The Lion King 3: Hakuna Matata in some countries, is the second direct-to-video installment of the film series. It was released by Walt Disney Home Entertainment on February 10, 2004. The DVD went to the Disney Vault in January 2005. The film is a chronologically concurrent sequel to the first film, focusing on Timon and Pumbaa. It was somewhat influenced by the Tom Stoppard's play Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, in which the titular characters are seen in every major event of Hamlet.[5][6][7][8]
Television series[edit]
Main article: Timon & Pumbaa (TV series)
The Lion King: The Lion King's Timon & Pumbaa is a spin-off cartoon series that centers on Timon and Pumbaa. The show ran for three seasons on CBS in the United States, and BBS in Canada from September 1, 1995 to November 1, 1998. In 1998, a change in writers and a new director meant the show became aimed more towards children than the whole family . As a result of this, ratings declined and the show was canceled. Since February 8, 2009 (after its final airing on the now-defunct Toon Disney before replaced by Disney XD), this show was no longer on the air, but has returned along with some other favorites on March 23, 2012, as part of the new Disney Junior TV channel.
Disney Junior logo variations parts characters for Rafiki Old Monkey, Mufasa Lion, Zazu, Timon Weasel, Pumbaa Pig Forest and Three Dog Wolf Wild Hyena. The Lion King: The Lion King's Timon & Pumbaa, Afternoon 4:30 pm (Singapore/Malaysia) on Disney Junior, coming in June.
The series had a direct-to-video film named Around the World with Timon and Pumbaa. The story tells of Pumbaa getting struck by lightning, losing all his memory, and Timon helps refrain every moment they spent. After Pumbaa gets his memory back, lightning strikes Timon losing his memory this time, making Pumbaa break the fourth wall by telling the viewers to rewind the tape to start at the beginning, being it was the only way to help Timon remember. Several episodes from the series are featured in this film. Aside from this film, two other DVDs, Dining Out... and On Holiday... are an hour compilation of other episodes. No DVDs have been released in the US, but were released on VHS.
On June 9, 2014, it was announced that a second TV show called The Lion Guard was slated to premiere on Disney Junior in November 2015 as a one-hour movie, followed by new episodes in January 2016. The series will center around Simba and Nala's son Kion, who tries to assemble a team to protect the Pride Lands. Various characters from the first two films will also make appearances in the show, includ­ing Kiara, Timon, Pum­baa, Rafiki, Zazu, and Mufasa.[9][10] It will also fea­ture new char­ac­ters, includ­ing Fuli, a con­fi­dent chee­tah; Beshte, a happy-go-lucky hippo; Ono, an intel­lec­tual egret; and Bunga, a fear­less honey bad­ger. The new characters are set to be friends with Kion and join him on his adventures.[11]
Broadway musical[edit]
Main article: The Lion King (musical)
A musical, based on the original animated film, debuted July 8, 1997, in Minneapolis, Minnesota at the Orpheum Theatre. Directed by Julie Taymor, produced by Disney Theatrical, and written by the co-director of the original film, Roger Allers, with writer Irene Mecchi. The musical features actors in elaborate animal costumes, and complex puppetry, created by Taymor and Michael Curry. The musical is divided in two acts (with the first act ending when Simba transforms from cub into adult lion) and has music by Elton John and lyrics by Tim Rice, along with the musical score created by Hans Zimmer with choral arrangements by Lebo M.[12] The musical incorporates several changes and additions to the storyline as compared to the film, as well as adding more songs.
The musical became a success even before premiering on Broadway at the New Amsterdam Theater on October 15, 1997 in previews with the official opening on November 13, 1997. On June 13, 2006, the Broadway production moved to the Minskoff Theatre to make way for the musical version of Mary Poppins, where it is still running.[13] It is now Broadway's seventh longest-running show in history. The show debuted in the West End's Lyceum Theatre on October 19, 1999 and is still running. The cast of the West End production were invited to perform at the Royal Variety Performance 2008 at the London Palladium on December 11, in the presence of senior members of the British Royal Family.[14] Other productions within the U.S. include a Los Angeles production at the Pantages Theatre, at Charlotte in the Blumenthal Performing Arts Center, and a Las Vegas production at Mandalay Bay.[15] International productions include a British at the Lyceum Theatre in London, a Canadian at the Princess of Wales Theatre in Toronto, a Mexican in Mexico City,[16] and an African in Johannesburg, South Africa,[17] among others. The first ever UK tour opened at Bristol Hippodrome on 31 August 2012.
Games[edit]
Two video games based on the first film have been released. The first, titled The Lion King, was published in 1994 by Virgin and was released for the NES (only in Europe), SNES, Game Boy, Sega Master System, Sega Mega Drive/Genesis, Game Gear, PC, and Amiga.[18] The second game, called The Lion King: Simba's Mighty Adventure, was published in 2000 by Activision and was released for the PlayStation and Game Boy Color.[19] It was based on the first film and its storyline continued into the sequel.
In 1996, Disney Interactive and 7th Level released Timon & Pumbaa's Jungle Games for the PC. It was later seen on the SNES. The Games include: one in which Pumbaa uses his gas to destroy fruits and bugs (and even a kitchen sink) that fall out of trees, a variation of pinball, a game where you use a peashooter to hit enemy creatures in the jungle, a game where Timon has to jump onto hippos in order to cross a river to deliver bugs to Pumbaa, and a variation of Puyo Puyo called Bug Drop.[20]
A game called The Lion King 1½ was published in 2003 for the Game Boy Advance, based on the direct-to-video film and featuring Timon and Pumbaa as the playable characters.[21] Some of the film's characters are playable in Disney's Extreme Skate Adventure, a spin off of the Tony Hawk games. In the Disney Interactive Studios and Square Enix video game Kingdom Hearts, Simba appears as an ally that Sora can summon during battles.[22] He also appears again as a summon character in Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories. In Kingdom Hearts II, the Pride Lands are a playable world and a number of characters from the film appear.[23] Simba is also a playable character in the video game Disney Friends.
Other media[edit]
A 70 mm film entitled Circle of Life: An Environmental Fable is shown in the Harvest Theater in The Land Pavilion at Epcot in Walt Disney World, Orlando, Florida. It opened on January 21, 1995 replacing Symbiosis. Compared to the said film, Circle of Life is more an edutainment attraction and more kid-friendly. In the film, Timon and Pumbaa are chopping down trees and clogging up rivers to build the Hakuna Matata Lakeside Village. Simba comes to them and explains how their actions are harmful to nature. This lesson is explained with live-action footage, some left over from Symbiosis.
The Legend of the Lion King was an underground stage performance retelling the story of the film using fully articulated puppets in Magic Kingdom's Fantasyland. This attraction ran from June 1994 to February 2002.
A Broadway-caliber short-form stage musical named Festival of the Lion King is performed live in Disney's Animal Kingdom at Walt Disney World, Florida and in Adventureland at Hong Kong Disneyland. It uses the concept of tribal celebration in combination with ideas from Disney's Electrical Parade. The show is in the form of a revue, and not a condensed version of either the film or Broadway show. However, it features the award-winning music from the first film, written by Elton John and Tim Rice. The show uses songs, dance, puppetry and visual effects to create an African savannah setting filled with lions, elephants, giraffes, birds, zebras and gazelles.
The Lion King Celebration was a parade based on the film that ran at Disneyland from June 1, 1994 to June 1, 1997. It was designed as though the story of Simba was a tale passed down in Africa for generations.[24] The parade featured six floats designed around different aspects of Africa, dancers dressed in animal costumes and a Pride Rock float featuring Simba and Nala.
Many characters from The Lion King appear in the Disney Channel series Disney's House of Mouse.[25] Some of them also appear in the series' spin-off films Mickey's Magical Christmas: Snowed in at the House of Mouse and Mickey's House of Villains. The characters also appear at Walt Disney Parks and Resorts as a meet and greet characters.
Common elements[edit]
Plot and themes[edit]
The story is set in a kingdom of anthropomorphic animals in Africa known as the Pride Lands, where a lion rules over the other animals as king.[3] The Lion King begins when Rafiki, a mandrill, anoints Simba, the newborn cub of King Mufasa and Queen Sarabi, presenting him to a gathering of animals at the Pride Rock. Simba is next seen as a young lion, with Mufasa teaching him about the "Circle of Life". Simba's uncle and Mufasa's brother Scar plots to take the throne for himself and tells Simba about an elephant graveyard, a place where Mufasa has warned Simba not to go. When Simba and his best friend Nala go to the place, Shenzi, Banzai and Ed, three hyenas aligned with Scar, attack and try to kill Simba and Nala, but they are stopped by Mufasa. Scar next plan is to lure Simba into a gorge while the hyenas create a wildebeest stampede. Alerted by Scar, Mufasa races to rescue Simba from the stampede. He saves his son but is left clinging to the edge of a cliff, which results in Scar flinging him into the stampede below and killing him. Scar next convinces Simba that the young lion is responsible of Mufasa's death and tells him to run away, only to later order the hyenas to kill Simba, but they fail. Scar informs the pride that both Mufasa and Simba were killed and that he is assuming the throne as the next in line. Simba is later found unconscious by Timon and Pumbaa, who adopt and raise him. It is not until Simba is a young adult lion that he meets Nala again, and the two lions fall in love. Along with Rafiki, Nala convinces Simba to return to the Pride Lands and claim the throne. Simba, along with Nala, Timon, and Pumbaa go to the Pride Rock, where Simba confront and eventually defeat Scar, who is later killed and devoured by his own army of hyenas as a result of Scar's blaming of the hyenas for Mufasa's death. The film concludes with the Pride Lands turning green with life again and Rafiki presenting Simba and Nala's newborn cub.
The Lion King II: Simba's Pride begins with the presentation of Simba and Nala's cub named Kiara. Simba is very protective of his daughter and assigns Timon and Pumbaa to be her guardians. One day, after an argument between Simba and Kiara, the young lioness sneaks into the Outlands, the place in which a group of lions loyal to Scar reside after Simba exiles them from the Pride Lands. In the Outlands, Kiara meets a young lion named Kovu, Scar's hand-chosen successor, and the two of them befriend each other until Simba and Kovu's mother, Zira arrive and a fight between Pride Landers and Outsiders almost takes place. Later in the film, Zira decides that she can use Kovu's new friendship with Kiara to get her revenge against Simba. Kiara is next seen as a young adult lioness and is set to go for her first solo-hunt, but discovers that her father still sends Timon and Pumbaa to watch her. Furious, Kiara goes further from home until Zira's other children, Nuka and Vitani, set fire to the plains where Kiara is hunting, causing her to faint and giving Kovu the chance to rescue her. Simba finds that Kovu has helped Kiara and reluctantly allows him into the Pride Lands. While Simba struggles with the idea of accepting Kovu, Kiara and Kovu eventually fall in love. One morning, Simba invites Kovu for a walk but they are ambushed by Zira and her pride. They attack Simba but, while chasing him, Nuka dies, resulting in Zira blaming and attacking Kovu for his death giving him a scar over his left eye. A wounded Simba exiles Kovu as he thinks Kovu was behind the ambush, but Kiara reunites with Kovu away from the Pride Rock. Meanwhile, Zira leads her pride in a war against the Pride Lands and a fierce battle breaks out. Kovu and Kiara leap between them and Kiara reminds her father that, by his own words, "we are one". Zira ignores her, but Vitani and the other Outsiders agree. Now alone, Zira leaps for Simba, but Kiara pushes her away and they fall over a cliff. Kiara lands on a rock, but Zira slips and falls to her death. Simba allows the Outsiders, including Kovu, to return to the Pride Lands, and Kovu is allowed to stand with Kiara at the top of Pride Rock.
The Lion King 1½ is a retelling of the events of the first film from Timon and Pumbaa's perspective.
The plot of The Lion King's Timon & Pumbaa centers on its title characters. The pair are normally seen having misadventures in the jungle, but sometimes find themselves across the globe in various settings. A pre-existing storyline of how Timon met Pumbaa appeared in this series. This episode's relation to The Lion King canon is questionable with the introduction of The Lion King 1½.
Cast and characters[edit]
Main article: List of The Lion King characters
A total of thirteen supervising animators from Walt Disney Animation Studios and Disney-MGM Studios were responsible for establishing the personalities and setting the tone for the first film's main characters. The animation team studied real-life animals for reference, as was done for the earlier film Bambi.[26] The animation of the characters counted with supervision by wildlife experts such as Jim Fowler, who visited the studio on several occasions with an assortment of lions and other jungle inhabitants to discuss behavior and help the animators give their drawings an authentic feel. He taught them how lions greet one another by gently butting heads, and show affection by placing one's head under the other's chin, mannerisms that can be appreciated in Simba and Nala's encounter during the song "Can You Feel the Love Tonight". Fowler also talked about how they protect themselves by lying on their backs and using their claws to ward off attackers, and how they fight rivals by rising on their hind legs.[27] Screenwriter Irene Mecchi joined the directing team to help in the character development process as well as to define each character's personality. Story head Brenda Chapman, gave insight to the challenge of the characters and the story by stating "It was our job to make the main character likeable and sympathetic. It was also challenging to make the environment and characters interesting. In real life, lions basically sleep, eat and have no props."[27]

List indicator(s)
A dark grey cell indicates the character was not in that medium.

Character
Films
TV Shows
Shorts
Others

The Lion King
The Lion King II: Simba's Pride
The Lion King 1½
Timon & Pumbaa
Wild About Safety
Mickey Mouse Works
House of Mouse
Mickey's Magical Christmas: Snowed in at the House of Mouse
Mickey's House of Villains

Rafiki
Robert Guillaume
Simba
Jonathan Taylor Thomas
Jason Weaver
Matthew Broderick
Joseph Williams Matthew Broderick
Cam Clarke Matt Weinberg
Matthew Broderick Cam Clarke   Cam Clarke Cam Clarke
Timon
Nathan Lane Nathan Lane
Kevin Schon
Quinton Flynn Bruce Lanoil (Cameo) Kevin Schon (no voice actor)
Pumbaa
Ernie Sabella   Ernie Sabella  
Zazu
Rowan Atkinson Edward Hibbert Michael Gough   (no voice actor)  
Nala
Niketa Calame
Moira Kelly
Sally Dworsky Moira Kelly   (no voice actress)
Scar
Jeremy Irons Jim Cummings (no voice actor)   (no voice actor)  
Shenzi
Whoopi Goldberg   Whoopi Goldberg Tress MacNeille   (no voice actress)   (no voice actress)
Banzai
Cheech Marin   Cheech Marin Rob Paulsen   (no voice actor)   (no voice actor)
Ed
Jim Cummings   Jim Cummings   Jim Cummings   Jim Cummings
Mufasa
James Earl Jones (no voice actor)   Keith David  
Kiara
(cameo only) Michelle Horn
 Charity Savoy
Neve Campbell
Liz Callaway  
Sarabi
Madge Sinclair  
Sarafina
Zoe Leader  
Kovu
  Ryan O' Donahue
Jason Marsden
Gene Miller  
Zira
  Suzanne Pleshette  
Vitani
  Lacey Chabert
 Crysta Macalush
Jennifer Lien  
Nuka
  Andy Dick  
Ma
  Julie Kavner Mentioned only  
Uncle Max
  Jerry Stiller  
Development[edit]
History[edit]
Early production of The Lion King began in late 1988, with the film originally being titled King of the Kalahari and later King of the Jungle.[28] The treatment, inspired by Hamlet, was written by Thomas M. Disch (author of The Brave Little Toaster) as work-for-hire; Disch received no credit or royalties. Production took place at the Walt Disney Animation Studios in Glendale, California. Also, nearly 20 minutes of the film were animated at the Disney-MGM Studios.[27] Ultimately, more than 600 artists, animators and technicians contributed to The Lion King over its lengthy production schedule. More than one million drawings were created for the film, including 1,197 hand-painted backgrounds and 119,058 individually colored frames of film.[27]
In October 1991, after finishing work on Beauty and the Beast as Head of Story, Roger Allers joined The Lion King, as the initial director. Allers worked for 6 months on story development and was then joined by co-director, Rob Minkoff. A 2-day story session was held to revamp the story with the two directors, Allers and Minkoff, joined by Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise, directors of Beauty and the Beast, and Producer Don Hahn who presided over the discussion. The creative think-tank produced a character makeover for Simba and a radically revised second half of the film.[27] Irene Mecchi joined the team that summer to help further develop the characters and define their personalities. Several months later, she was joined by Jonathan Roberts in the rewriting process. Working together in the animation department and in conjunction with the directors and story team, they tackled the unresolved emotional issues in the script and also added many comic situations.[27] Some of the lead production crew made a trip to Africa to better understand the environment for the film. The trip gave production designer Chris Sanders a new appreciation for the natural environments and inspired him to find ways to incorporate these elements into the design of the film.[27] The filmmakers also made use of computers to better present their vision in new ways. The most notable use of computer animation is in the "wildebeest stampede" sequence. Several distinct wildebeest characters were created in a 3D computer program, multiplied into hundreds, cel shaded to look like drawn animation, and given randomized paths down a mountainside to simulate the real, unpredictable movement of a herd. Similar multiplication occurs in the "Be Prepared" musical number with identical marching hyenas.[29] Five specially trained animators and technicians spent more than two years creating the 2½ minute stampede sequence.[27]
At one time, the Disney Feature Animation staff felt The Lion King was less important than Pocahontas.[3] Both projects were in production at the same time, and most of the staff preferred to work on Pocahontas, believing it would be the more prestigious and successful of the two.[3] As it turned out, while both films were commercial successes, The Lion King received more positive feedback and larger grosses than Pocahontas.[30][31][32]
The sequel The Lion King II: Simba's Pride was directed by Darrell Rooney and produced by Jeannine Roussel, with Flip Kobler and Cindy Marcus writing the screenplay. Disney believed that Simba's Pride would be so popular that it shipped 15 million copies to stores for the October 27 release date.[33]
Music[edit]
The original motion picture soundtrack for the first film was released on June 13, 1994, two days before the film's release. It contains songs by songwriter Elton John and Tim Rice, who wrote five original songs, with Elton John performing "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" during the end credits. Additionally, "The Morning Report", a song which was not present in the original theatrical film, was later added to the IMAX theater and to the DVD Platinum Edition release. The film's score was composed by Hans Zimmer and supplemented with traditional African music and choir elements arranged by Lebo M.[34] Elton John thought his career had hit a new low when he was writing the music to the song "Hakuna Matata".[35] However, the strongly enthusiastic audience reception to an early film trailer which consisted solely of the opening sequence with the song "Circle of Life", suggested that the film would be very successful. Out of the five original songs, "Hakuna Matata" was listed at number 99 in the AFI's 100 Years... 100 Songs list in 2004,[36] and "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" won the Oscar for Best Original Song during the 67th Academy Awards. The soundtrack itself was the fourth best-selling album of 1994 on the Billboard 200 and the top-selling soundtrack.[37]
Disney Records released Rhythm of the Pride Lands on February 28, 1995 as a sequel to the soundtrack of the first film. Rhythm of the Pride Lands was initially printed in a very limited quantity. However, it was re-released in 2003, included in some international versions of The Lion King's special edition soundtrack with an additional track, "Circle of Life".
An audio CD entitled Return to Pride Rock: Songs Inspired by Disney's The Lion King II: Simba's Pride was released on September 8, 1998. Although not promoted as a soundtrack to The Lion King II: Simba's Pride, it contained all the songs from the film and some additional songs inspired by it by Lebo M. Tina Turner recorded a version of "He Lives in You" for the film. On August 31, 2004, Disney released an "enhanced soundtrack" to coincide with the release of the film's 2-Disc Special Edition DVD. However, the CD only contains the songs featured in the film, without any of the inspired songs by the first film. Siskel & Ebert noted that it was best the film was direct-to-video, since the music was lacking and not remotely equal to the original's soundtrack.[38]
The soundtrack for the third film, The Lion King 1½: Songs From Timon and Pumbaa's Hilarious Adventure, was released to CD by Disney Records on February 10, 2004. It includes two songs from the original film, "That's All I Need" and "Hakuna Matata", re-performed by Nathan Lane who took over the role of voicing the character Timon. The rest of the soundtrack includes various R&B tracks, including remakes of the Kool and the Gang classic "Jungle Boogie" by artist French, and two instrumental pieces from film composer Don Harper. Ennio Morricone was the original composer of "The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly".[39]
Reception[edit]
During its release in 1994, The Lion King was widely appraised and acclaimmed, grossed more than $783 million worldwide, becoming the most successful film released that year, and it is currently the thirty-first grossing feature film of all time. The film was the highest grossing animated film of all time until the release of Disney/Pixar's Finding Nemo, a computer-animated film. The Lion King is still the highest grossing traditionally animated film of all time in the United States.[40][41] The film received many award nominations. It won the Academy Award for Best Original Score,[42] the Golden Globe award for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy,[43] and the Annie Award for Best Animated Feature.[44] The song "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" alone won the Academy Award for Best Original Song, the Golden Globe for Best Original Song, the BMI Film Music Award, and the Grammy Award for Best Vocal Performance Male.
The Lion King II: Simba's Pride sold 3.5 million copies in three days. Thirteen million copies were sold while it was still in print in the late 90s.[45] Both sequels won the Annie Award for Best Animated Home Entertainment Production. The Lion King 1½ also won five DVD Exclusive Awards. The musical won six Tony Awards including Best Musical.[46][47]
Box office performance[edit]
Film Release date Box Office
United States Outside US Worldwide
The Lion King June 15, 1994[1] $422,783,777[48] $564,700,000[48] $987,483,777[48]
The Lion King: The Musical November 13, 1997 Direct-to-Video Direct-to-Video Direct-to-Video
The Lion King II: Simba's Pride October 27, 1998 Direct-to-Video Direct-to-Video Direct-to-Video
The Lion King 1½ February 10, 2004 Direct-to-Video Direct-to-Video Direct-to-Video
Critical reaction[edit]
Media Rotten Tomatoes Metacritic Yahoo! Movies
The Lion King (1994 film) 90% (110 reviews)[31] 83% (14 reviews)[49] A+ (6 reviews)[50]
The Lion King (1997 musical) 45% (7 reviews)[citation needed]    
The Lion King II: Simba's Pride (1998 film) 33% (6 reviews)[51]    
The Lion King: Simba's Mighty Adventure (2000 video game)   30%[52]  
The Lion King 1½ (2003 video game)   64%[53]  
The Lion King 1½ (2004 film) 76% (17 reviews)[54]    
References[edit]
1.^ Jump up to: a b "The Lion King (1994)". Yahoo! Movies. Retrieved 2009-09-10.
2.Jump up ^ "Disney: Notes on the end of the Disney Renaissance". decentfilms.com. Retrieved 2008-08-26.
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33.Jump up ^ Lion King II: Simba's Pride - Trailer - Cast - Showtimes New York Times
34.Jump up ^ The Lion King: Platinum Edition (Disc 1), Music: African Influence (DVD). Walt Disney Home Entertainment. 1994-06-15.
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46.Jump up ^ "The Lion King Tony Awards". tonyawards.com. Retrieved 2008-08-14.
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[hide]
v ·
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The Lion King

 
Films
The Lion King (1994) ·
 The Lion King II: Simba's Pride (1998) ·
 The Lion King 1½ (2004)
 
 
Theater
The Lion King (1997)
 
 
Television and short films
Timon & Pumbaa (1995-9) ·
 Disney's House of Mouse (2001-3) ·
 Wild About Safety
 
 
Characters
Simba ·
 Timon and Pumbaa ·
 Scar
 
 
Music


The Lion King (inspired by)
"Circle of Life" ·
 "I Just Can't Wait to Be King" ·
 "Be Prepared" ·
 "Hakuna Matata" ·
 "Can You Feel the Love Tonight"
 
 
The Lion King II and 1½
"He Lives in You" ·
 "We Are One" ·
 "My Lullaby" ·
 "Upendi" ·
 "Not One of Us" ·
 "Love Will Find a Way" ·
 "Digga Tunnah"
 
 
The Lion King musical
"The Morning Report" ·
 "Endless Night" ·
 "The Madness of King Scar" ·
 "Shadowland"
 

 
Video games
The Lion King (1994) ·
 Disney's Animated Storybook: The Lion King (1994) ·
 Disney's The Lion King Activity Center (1995) ·
 Timon & Pumbaa's Jungle Games (1996) ·
 The Lion King: Simba's Mighty Adventure (2000) ·
 The Lion King 1½ (2003)
 
 
Attractions
Circle of Life: An Environmental Fable ·
 The Legend of the Lion King ·
 Festival of the Lion King ·
 The Lion King Celebration ·
 Hakuna Matata Restaurant ·
 Affection Section ·
 Habitat Habit!: The Lion King ·
 Wildlife Express Train
 

 


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The Lion King (musical)
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The Lion King
The Lion King Musical.svg
Poster from the Broadway Production
 
Music
Elton John
Lyrics
Tim Rice
Book
Roger Allers
Irene Mecchi
Basis
1994 Disney animated film
The Lion King
Productions
1997 Minneapolis (tryout)
 1997 Broadway
 1998 Tokyo
 1999 Japan National Tour
 1999 London
 2000 Toronto
 2000 Los Angeles
 2001 Hamburg
 2002 U.S. National Tour
 2003 U.S. National Tour
 2003 Sydney
 2004 The Hague
 2006 Shanghai
 2006 Seoul
 2007 Johannesburg
 2007 Paris
 2008 Taipei
 2009 Las Vegas
 2011 Singapore
 2011 Madrid
 2012 U.K. National Tour
 2013 São Paulo
 2013 Sydney
Awards
1998 Tony Award for Best Musical
The Lion King is a musical based on the 1994 Disney animated film of the same name with music by Elton John and lyrics by Tim Rice along with the musical score created by Hans Zimmer with choral arrangements by Lebo M. Directed by Julie Taymor, the musical features actors in animal costumes as well as giant, hollow puppets. The show is produced by Disney Theatrical.
The musical debuted July 8, 1997, in Minneapolis, Minnesota at the Orpheum Theatre, and was an instant success before premiering on Broadway at the New Amsterdam Theater on October 15, 1997 in previews with the official opening on November 13, 1997. On June 13, 2006, the Broadway production moved to the Minskoff Theatre to make way for the musical version of Mary Poppins, where it is still running after more than 6,700 performances.[1] It is Broadway's fourth longest-running show in history and the highest grossing Broadway production of all time, having grossed more than $1 billion.[2]
The show debuted in the West End's Lyceum Theatre on October 19, 1999 and is still running. The cast of the West End production were invited to perform at the Royal Variety Performance 2008 at the London Palladium on December 11, in the presence of senior members of the British Royal Family.[3]
In September 2014, The Lion King became the top-earning title in box-office history for both stage productions and films, surpassing the record previously held by Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera, of which was the first to gross over $6 billion.[4]


Contents  [hide]
1 U.S. and international productions
2 Synopsis 2.1 Act I
2.2 Act II
2.3 Songs
3 Musical adaptation
4 Original Broadway cast
5 Original West End cast
6 Recordings 6.1 The Lion King: Original Broadway Cast Recording 6.1.1 Instrumentation

7 Awards and nominations 7.1 Original Broadway production
7.2 Original London production
7.3 Original France production
8 References
9 External links

U.S. and international productions

 

 Hamburg, Germany: Lion King Theatre
After the success of the Broadway show, the show was produced in the United Kingdom in 1999 by Harrison Lochtenberg, and continues to play at the Lyceum Theatre in London. Taymor led the British production of the show, with Melissa De Melo as the producer. The London Production has celebrated its 10th anniversary in the West End.
The show was translated into Japanese and staged by the Shiki Theatre Company. The Tokyo production began in 1998 and continues to the present day at the Shiki Theatre HARU.[5]
A Canadian production of the show was staged in Toronto and ran for nearly four years at the Princess of Wales Theatre. The show ran from 1999–2004.
A Los Angeles production began performances at the Pantages Theatre on September 29, 2000 with an official opening on October 19, 2000. The show closed on January 12, 2003 after 952 performances.
The show played at the Capitol Theatre in Sydney, Australia, from October 16, 2003, until June 26, 2005. The production then ran at the Regent Theatre in Melbourne from July 28, 2005 until June 4, 2006.
The musical had a Korean production from October 28, 2006 to October 28, 2007 at the Charlotte Theater, southern Seoul.
The Dutch production in 2004 was made at the Circus Theater until August 27, 2006, taking place for Tarzan.
Beginning in June 2007, The Lion King Musical debuted its first ever performance on the African continent in Johannesburg, South Africa. Its tenth year anniversary was celebrated in the new Teatro Theatre at Monte Casino in Fourways. The Lion King is the first production to take place in the new theatre. The opening night in Johannesburg, was celebrated with key persons involving the creation of the Lion King Musical, and American talk show host Oprah Winfrey, who had recently opened an educational academy for girls in Johannesburg[6] The show closed on February 17, 2008.
The Lion King Musical debuted in Paris on September 22, 2007 in the Théâtre Mogador.
There is currently one U.S. touring production. (At one time there were 2 US touring productions travelling simultaneously). The tour version is very similar to the original Broadway production; however, certain scenic elements which rise out of the stage floor (such as Pride Rock, the stampede, and the grasslands) were converted to less costly configurations for the touring productions. The sun during the opening is reduced in size for the shorter-lasting tours. Stage sizes are also smaller, and the size of the pit orchestra is decreased.
In August 2008, a production opened in Taipei, Taiwan, closing on August 24, 2009.
The musical had a Mexican limited run (in English) between January 3 and January 27, 2008 in Mexico City, as part of the U.S. national tour.[7]
A Las Vegas production opened at Mandalay Bay on May 15, 2009 with previews beginning May 5, 2009.[8]
On October 20, 2011 the first Spanish production opened at Teatro Lope de Vega in Madrid, produced by Stage Entertainment.[9]
The Lion King is coming to the Marina Bay Sands Theatre. Base Entertainment and Marina Bay Sands are bringing the Disney Theatrical Group production to Singapore.[10] The South-east Asian premiere in Singapore will be a duplicate of the other shows performing in other parts of the world, such as London and New York. It will feature a new company of performers auditioned around the world. The show debuted in March 2011, closing on October 30, 2011.[11]
It was announced that the production will come to Russia in near future.
On February 2012, it was announced that The Lion King will begin a UK tour, with Bristol performances beginning on August 31, 2012 and Manchester on December 1. Also, it was announced that a production at the Capitol Theatre in Sydney will debut in December 2013.[12]
A Brazilian production was confirmed to debut in São Paulo in March 28, 2013.[13] Auditions take place in São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Salvador. The cast contain mainly Brazilian actors and seven South African actors.[14] The Portuguese lyrics were translated by Brazilian singer Gilberto Gil.
It has been confirmed that an Ireland production will debut in 2013 as part of the United Kingdom tour.[15]
The Lion King will come back to Sydney's Capitol Theatre on December 12, 2013.[16]
In Switzerland, the musical will be performed for the first time starting March 2015, with shows planned until the end of May.[17]
Synopsis
Act I

 

 Actress Buyi Zama as Rafiki in Taiwan.
As the sun rises, Rafiki the mandrill calls the animals to Pride Rock. She greets King Mufasa and Queen Sarabi before presenting their cub to the gathered animals ("Circle of Life"). Elsewhere, Mufasa's brother, Scar, laments his lost chance at becoming king. Back at her baobab tree, Rafiki paints an image of the cub and asks the spirits to conjure the new prince's name: Simba.
Time passes and Simba grows into a lively young cub ("Grasslands Chant"). Mufasa shows Simba the Pride Lands from the top of Pride Rock and explains that everything exists in a delicate balance known as the Circle of Life. Mufasa warns Simba not to stray beyond the boundaries of the Pride Lands, pointing out a shadowy area in the distance. Zazu, a hornbill who acts as Mufasa's advisor, arrives and delivers his daily report on the state of affairs in the King's domain ("The Morning Report", now cut from the Broadway production).[18]

 

Geoff Hoyle as Zazu
Simba goes to see his uncle Scar. The scheming lion piques the cub's curiosity by mentioning the elephant graveyard, where Simba is forbidden to go. Meanwhile the lionesses go hunting ("The Lioness Hunt"). Simba arrives and asks his best friend, a female cub named Nala, to come with him to the elephant graveyard. He lies to the lionesses about where they are going, and Sarafina (Nala's mother) and Sarabi allow the cubs to go, escorted by Zazu. Simba and Nala formulate a plan and manage to lose Zazu, while Simba brags about his future position ("I Just Can't Wait to Be King").
The cubs go to the graveyard and begin to explore. Zazu catches up, but they are confronted by three hyenas: Shenzi, Banzai and Ed. The hyenas intend to eat the trespassers and gloat about their find ("Chow Down"). Mufasa rescues the cubs and frightens off the hyenas.
Mufasa is disappointed and angry at Simba's reckless disobedience, and explains the difference between bravery and bravado. Mufasa tells Simba about the great kings of the past and how they watch over everything from the stars ("They Live in You"). Mufasa says that he will always be there for his son. Later he discusses Simba's behavior with Zazu, who reminds Mufasa that he had the same tendency to get into trouble at Simba's age.
Back at the elephant graveyard, Scar tells the hyenas of a plan to kill Mufasa and Simba so that he can become king. He raises an army of hyenas, promising that they will never go hungry again if they support him ("Be Prepared"). Scar takes Simba to a gorge and tells him to wait there. On Scar's signal, the hyenas start a wildebeest stampede into the gorge ("The Stampede"). Scar tells Mufasa that Simba is trapped in the gorge. Mufasa leaps into the stampede and manages to save his son, but as he tries to escape, Scar throws him off the cliff back into the stampede killing him. Scar convinces Simba that his father's death was his fault and tells him to run away, but as he leaves, Scar orders the hyenas to kill him. Simba escapes but the hyenas tell Scar that he is dead. Rafiki and the lionesses mourn the deaths ("Rafiki Mourns"). Scar claims the throne and allows the hyenas into the Pride Lands ("Be Prepared (Reprise)"). Rafiki returns to her tree and smears the drawing of Simba, while Sarabi and Nala quietly grieve.
Out in the desert, Simba collapses from heat exhaustion. Vultures begin to circle, but are scared away by Timon the meerkat and Pumbaa the warthog. Simba feels responsible for Mufasa's death, but the duo take the cub to their jungle home and show him their carefree way of life and bug diet ("Hakuna Matata"). Simba grows to adulthood in the jungle.
Act II
The chorus, dressed in colorful clothes with ornate bird puppets and kites, begin the Second Act ("One by One"). As the song ends, however, the beautiful birds are replaced by vultures and gazelle skeletons. Under Scar's rule, the Circle of Life is out of balance and a drought has hit the Pride Lands. Zazu, now a prisoner of Scar, listens to the king's woes. The hyenas are complaining about the lack of food, but Scar is only concerned with himself and why he is not loved. He is haunted by visions of Mufasa and rapidly switches between delusional confidence and paranoid despair ("The Madness of King Scar"). Nala arrives to confront Scar about the famine and Scar decides she will be his queen and give him cubs. Nala fiercely rebukes him and resolves to leave the Pride Lands to find help. Rafiki and the lionesses bless her for her journey ("Shadowland").
Back in the jungle, Timon and Pumbaa want to sleep, but the restless Simba is unable to settle. Annoyed, Simba leaves them, but Timon and Pumbaa lose their courage and follow him. Simba leaps across a fast-moving river and challenges Timon to do the same. Timon falls in and is swept downstream. He grabs a branch over a waterfall and calls for Simba's help, but Simba is paralysed by a flashback of Mufasa's death. Timon falls from the branch and Simba snaps out of the flashback, rescuing his friend. Simba is ashamed that Timon nearly died because of his recklessness.
The three friends settle to sleep and discuss the stars. Simba recalls Mufasa's words, but his friends laugh at the notion of dead kings watching them. Simba leaves, expressing his loneliness and bitterly recalling Mufasa's promise to be there for him ("Endless Night"). Rafiki hears the song on the wind, joyfully realises that Simba is alive, and draws a mane onto her painting of Simba.
In the jungle, Pumbaa is hunted and chased by a lioness. Simba confronts her and saves his friend, but recognises the lioness as Nala. She is amazed to find Simba alive, knowing that he is the rightful king. Timon and Pumbaa are confused, but Simba asks them to leave him and Nala alone. Timon realizes what is happening and laments the end of Simba's Hakuna Matata lifestyle ("Can You Feel the Love Tonight"). Nala tells Simba about the devastated Pride Lands, but Simba still feels responsible for Mufasa's death and refuses to return.
On his own, Simba meets Rafiki, who explains that his father lives on ("He Lives in You"). Mufasa's spirit appears in the sky and tells Simba he is the one true king and must take his place in the Circle of Life. Reawakened, Simba finds his courage and heads for home. Meanwhile, Nala wakes Timon and Pumbaa to ask where Simba is, and Rafiki appears to tell them all the news. The three of them catch up with him in the Pride Lands, where he witnesses the ruin of his home. Timon and Pumbaa distract some hyenas by doing the Charleston, allowing Simba and Nala to reach Pride Rock.
Scar calls for Sarabi and demands to know why the lionesses are not hunting. Sarabi stands up to him about the lack of anything to hunt, angrily comparing him to Mufasa, and Scar strikes his sister-in-law, saying he's ten times the king Mufasa was. Enraged, Simba reveals himself. Scar forces a confession of murder from Simba and corners him. Believing that he has won, Scar taunts Simba by admitting that he killed Mufasa. Furious, Simba recovers and forces Scar to reveal the truth to the lionesses ("Simba Confronts Scar"). Simba's friends fight the hyenas while Simba battles Scar to the top of Pride Rock. Scar begs for his life, blaming the hyenas for everything. Simba lets him leave out of mercy, but Scar attacks again. Simba blocks the attack and Scar falls from the cliff. The hyenas, who heard Scar's betrayal and are still starving, tear him to shreds.
With the battle won, Simba's friends come forward and acknowledge Simba as the rightful king. Simba ascends Pride Rock and roars out across the kingdom ("King of Pride Rock"). The Pride Lands recover and the animals gather in celebration as Rafiki presents Simba and Nala's newborn cub, continuing the Circle of Life ("Circle of Life (Reprise)").
Songs
Act I

Song
Written by
Performed by
Sample

Circle of Life
Elton John and Tim Rice Rafiki and Ensemble 
Grasslands Chant
Lebo M Ensemble 
The Morning Report*
Elton John and Tim Rice Zazu, Young Simba and Mufasa 
The Lioness Hunt
Lebo M Ensemble 
I Just Can't Wait to Be King
Elton John and Tim Rice Young Simba, Young Nala, Zazu and Ensemble 
Chow Down
Shenzi, Banzai and Ed 
They Live in You
Mark Mancina, Jay Rifkin and Lebo M Mufasa and Ensemble 
Be Prepared
Elton John and Tim Rice Scar, Shenzi, Banzai, Ed and Ensemble 
The Stampede
Hans Zimmer and Lebo M Ensemble and Rafiki 
Rafiki Mourns
Ensemble 
Hakuna Matata
Elton John and Tim Rice Timon, Pumbaa, Young Simba, Simba and Ensemble 
Act II

Song
Written by
Performed by
Sample

One by One
Lebo M Ensemble 
The Madness of King Scar
Elton John and Tim Rice Scar, Zazu, Banzai, Shenzi, Ed and Nala 
Shadowland
Hans Zimmer, Lebo M, and Mark Mancina Nala, Rafiki and Ensemble About this sound sample (help·info)
Endless Night
Julie Taymor, Lebo M, Hans Zimmer and Jay Rifkin Simba and Ensemble 
Can You Feel the Love Tonight
Elton John and Tim Rice Timon, Pumbaa, Simba, Nala and Ensemble 
He Lives in You (Reprise)
Mark Mancina, Jay Rifkin and Lebo M Rafiki, Simba and Ensemble About this sound sample (help·info)
Simba Confronts Scar
Mark Mancina and Robert Elhai Instrumental 
King of Pride Rock/Circle of Life (Reprise)
Hans Zimmer and Lebo M/Elton John and Tim Rice Rafiki, Simba, Nala, Pumbaa, Timon, Zazu and Ensemble 
* Cut from the show as of June 27, 2010
Musical adaptation
The musical incorporates several changes and additions to the storyline as compared to the film. The mandrill Rafiki's gender was changed to a female role because Taymor believed that there was generally no leading female character in the film.[19] Rafiki was portrayed by Tsidii Le Loka in the original Broadway musical, and by Josette Bushell-Mingo in the original London production.

 

The Lion King on Broadway. showing originally at the New Amsterdam Theater (shown), it is now showing at the Minskoff.
Several new scenes are present, including a conversation between Mufasa and Zazu about Mufasa's parenting and a perilous scene in which Timon finds himself nearly drowning in a waterfall while Simba feels powerless to help him. A major narrative addition is the depiction of Nala's departure in the scene "The Madness of King Scar", where the mentally deteriorating villain tries to make Nala his mate. Nala refuses and later announces her intention to depart the Pride Lands and find help. She receives the blessings of the lionesses and Rafiki during the new song "Shadowland".

 

The Lion King in the West End
Like its predecessor, the Beauty and the Beast musical, the show adds more songs to its stage production, including "Morning Report", sung by Zazu the hornbill and later added to the film for the Platinum Edition DVD release. "Shadowland". originally featured on the CD Rhythm of the Pride Lands with Zulu lyrics as "Lea Halelela", was adapted for the musical with new English lyrics. It is sung by Nala, the lionesses, and Rafiki. "Endless Night", also from Rhythm of the Pride Lands with Swahili lyrics as "Lala", is sung by Simba while reflecting on Mufasa's promise to always be there. "One by One" from the Rhythm of the Pride Lands CD was adapted as the rousing African-styled entre act sung by the chorus at the opening of the second act.
Many of the animals portrayed in the production are actors in costume using extra tools to move their costumes. For example, the giraffes are portrayed by actors walking on stilts. For principal characters such as Mufasa and Scar, the costumes feature mechanical headpieces that can be raised and lowered to foster the illusion of a cat "lunging" at another. Other characters, such as the hyenas, Zazu, Timon, and Pumbaa, are portrayed by actors in life-sized puppets or costumes. The Timon character is described by Taymor as one of the hardest roles to master because the movement of the puppet's head and arms puts a strain on the actor's arms, back, and neck.[20]
Composer Lebo M led the original Broadway chorus.[20] The chorus members are usually visible in the production, rather than being hidden in the shadows as seen in some other musical shows.
A new section of the production, the Lioness Hunt, features a particularly complicated dance sequence for the actresses, and the dance is made even more difficult by the large headpieces worn during the scene.
During the show's run in China, Chinese elements were included in the musical. One of the songs was adapted to a well-known Chinese pop song, "Laoshu ai dami" or "Mice Love Rice". The cast even cracked jokes and attempted conversations with the audience in Chinese.[21]
As of June 27, 2010, nine minutes of the Broadway version were cut, among them the entire "Morning Report" musical number.[18] The song was also removed from subsequent productions and cast recordings, such as the Spanish one.

Original Broadway cast

Actor
Role
Jason Raize Simba
John Vickery Scar
Samuel E. Wright Mufasa
Heather Headley Nala
Tsidii Le Loka Rafiki
Max Casella Timon
Tom Alan Robbins Pumbaa
Geoff Hoyle Zazu
Tracy Nicole Chapman Shenzi
Stanley Wayne Mathis Banzai
Kevin Cahoon Ed
Gina Breedlove Sarabi
Scott Irby-Ranniar Young Simba
Kajuana Shuford Young Nala

Original West End cast

Actor
Role
Roger Wright Simba
Luke Youngblood Young Simba
Rob Edwards Scar
Cornell John Mufasa
Paulette Ivory Nala
Dominique Moore Young Nala
Josette Bushell-Mingo Rafiki
Simon Gregor Timon
Martyn Ellis Pumbaa
Gregory Gudgeon Zazu
Dawn Michael Sarabi
Stephanie Charles Shenzi
Paul J. Medford Banzai
Christopher Holt Ed
 
Recordings
Various international cast recordings are available on CD, including:[22]
1997 Broadway Cast
1999 Japanese Cast
2002 German Cast
2004 Dutch Cast
2007 French Cast
2007 South African Cast (live performance audio CD)
2011 Spanish Cast
2014 Australian Cast
Note: A recording entitled The Lion King, by the London Theatre Orchestra and Singers, was released on November 14, 2000 (D-3 Entertainment, ASIN: B00004ZDR6). This is not the London original cast recording.[23]
The Lion King: Original Broadway Cast Recording

 

The Lion King: Original Broadway Cast Recording album cover art
The Lion King: Original Broadway Cast Recording is a cast recording released on 1997 by The Walt Disney Company, a recording of the songs as heard in the stage musical. Most of the tracks were composed by African composer Lebo M. and focused primarily on the African influences of the film's original music, with most songs being sung either partially or entirely in various African languages.
The Spanish cast recording doesn't have "The Morning Report" maybe because the scene was removed from subsequent productions after the Broadway one. Also, it is the only one where "One by One" was renamed due to the language (in Spanish, it became "Somos mil"), though the song is performed with its original lyrics.
Rafiki's chants in "Rafiki Mourns" were written by Tsidii Le Loka, who originated the role on Broadway.
1."Circle of Life" – Faca Kulu, Lebo M, The Lion King Ensemble and Tsidii Le Loka
2."Grasslands Chant" – The Lion King Ensemble
3."The Morning Report" – Geoff Hoyle, Samuel E. Wright and Scott Irby-Ranniar
4."The Lioness Hunt" – Lebo M and The Lion King Ensemble
5."I Just Can't Wait to Be King" – Geoff Hoyle, Kajuana Shuford, Scott Irby-Ranniar and The Lion King Ensemble
6."Chow Down" – Kevin Cahoon, Stanley Wayne Mathis and Tracy Nicole Chapman
7."They Live in You" – Samuel E. Wright and The Lion King Ensemble
8."Be Prepared" – John Vickery, Kevin Cahoon, Stanley Wayne Mathis, The Lion King Ensemble and Tracy Nicole Chapman
9."The Stampede" – The Lion King Ensemble
10."Rafiki Mourns" – The Lion King Ensemble and Tsidii Le Loka
11."Hakuna Matata" – Jason Raize, Max Casella, Scott Irby-Ranniar, The Lion King Ensemble and Tom Alan Robbins
12."One by One" – Lebo M and The Lion King Ensemble
13."The Madness of King Scar" – Geoff Hoyle, Heather Headley, John Vickery, Kevin Cahoon, Stanley Wayne Mathis and Tracy Nicole Chapman
14."Shadowland" – Heather Headley, The Lion King Ensemble and Tsidii Le Loka
15."The Lion Sleeps Tonight" – Lebo M
16."Endless Night" – Jason Raize and The Lion King Ensemble
17."Can You Feel the Love Tonight" – Heather Headley, Jason Raize, Max Casella, The Lion King Ensemble and Tom Alan Robbins
18."He Lives in You (Reprise)" – Jason Raize, The Lion King Ensemble and Tsidii Le Loka
19."Simba Confronts Scar" – Mark Mancina and Robert Elhai
20."King of Pride Rock/Circle of Life (Reprise)" – Geoff Hoyle, Heather Headley, Jason Raize, Lebo M, Max Casella, The Lion King Ensemble, Tom Alan Robbins and Tsidii Le Loka
Note: The songs "Grasslands Chant", "The Lioness Hunt", "Chow Down", "They Live in You", "Rafiki Mourns", "One by One", "The Madness of King Scar", "Shadowland", "Endless Night" and "Simba Confronts Scar" are newest classics.
Instrumentation
The original broadway show included:[24]
1 wood flute soloist/flute/piccolo
1 concertmistress
2 violins
1 violin/viola
2 cellos
1 flute/clarinet/bass clarinet
3 French horns
1 trombone
1 bass trombone/tuba
1 upright & electric basses
1 drums
1 guitar
2 mallets/percussion
2 percussion
3 keyboard synthesizers
Awards and nominations
Original Broadway production

Year
Award Ceremony
Category
Nominee
Result
1998 Drama Desk Awards Outstanding Musical Nominated
Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical Max Casella Nominated
Geoff Hoyle Nominated
Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical Tsidii Le Loka Won
Outstanding Director Julie Taymor Won
Outstanding Choreography Garth Fagan Won
Outstanding Orchestrations Robert Elhai, David Metzger, and Bruce Fowler Nominated
Outstanding Set Design Richard Hudson Won
Outstanding Costume Design Julie Taymor Won
Outstanding Lighting Design Donald Holder Won
Outstanding Sound Design Tony Meola Won
Outstanding Puppet Design Julie Taymor and Michael Curry Won
Theatre World Awards  Max Casella Won
Tony Awards Best Musical Won
Best Book of a Musical Roger Allers and Irene Mecchi Nominated
Best Original Score Elton John, Tim Rice, Hans Zimmer, Lebo M, Mark Mancina, Jay Rifkin and Julie Taymor Nominated
Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical Samuel E. Wright Nominated
Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical Tsidii Le Loka Nominated
Best Direction of a Musical Julie Taymor Won
Best Choreography Garth Fagan Won
Best Orchestrations Robert Elhai, David Metzger and Bruce Fowler Nominated
Best Scenic Design for a Musical Richard Hudson Won
Best Costume Design for a Musical Julie Taymor and Michael Curry Won
Best Lighting Design of a Musical Donald Holder Won
Original London production

Year
Award Ceremony
Category
Nominee
Result
1999 Laurence Olivier Awards Best New Musical Nominated
Best Actor in a Musical Rob Edwards Nominated
Best Actress in a Musical Josette Bushell-Mingo Nominated
Best Director Julie Taymor Nominated
Best Theatre Choreographer Garth Fagan Won
Best Set Design Richard Hudson Nominated
Best Costume Design Julie Taymor Won
Best Lighting Design Donald Holder Nominated
Original France production

Year
Award Ceremony
Category
Nominee
Result
2008 Molière Awards Best Musical Won
Best Costume Design Julie Taymor Won
Best Lighting Design Donald Holder Won
References
1.Jump up ^ "Long Runs on Broadway", Playbill, January 19, 2014
2.Jump up ^ "Cumulative Broadway Grosses by Show". BroadwayWorld.com. Retrieved February 9, 2014.
3.Jump up ^ "An all-star line up unveiled for the 80th anniversary show on BBC ONE." (PDF). Entertainment Artistes' Benevolent Fund. Retrieved 2008-11-17.
4.Jump up ^ Gans, Andrew. "The Lion King Is Now Top-Earner in Box-Office History" Playbill.com, September 22, 2014
5.Jump up ^ Shiki Theatre Company Ongoing Productions
6.Jump up ^ Davie, Lucille."The Lion King comes home", southafrica.info, June 8, 2007
7.Jump up ^ 'The Lion King' Celebrates Successful Mexico City Premiere
8.Jump up ^ The Lion King Sesma, White, Williams, Zama and Simmons Cast in Las Vegas Lion King
9.Jump up ^ Gran estreno del musical de Disney EL REY LEÓN en el corazón de Madrid. El musical bate un récord nacional en venta de entradas ¡Nuevas funciones ya a la venta!
10.Jump up ^ "The Lion King", Marina Bay Sands official website
11.Jump up ^ "The Lion King Singapore (official website)". The Lion King Singapore. Retrieved 7 October 2011.
12.Jump up ^ "The Lion King", Disney, Sydney official website; and "The Lion King", Disney, London official site
13.Jump up ^ Musical "O Rei Leão" estreia em SP em março; conheça os atores da peça
14.Jump up ^ Musical 'O Rei Leão' chega à São Paulo em 2013
15.Jump up ^ The Lion King roars into Dublin
16.Jump up ^ "Rice's roar talent back on show". The Sydney Morning Herald. May 8, 2013. Retrieved May 9, 2013.
17.Jump up ^ "«The Lion King» kommt 2015 in die Schweiz". http://www.20min.ch/. 20 Minuten. April 29., 2014. Retrieved October 5., 2014. Check date values in: |date=, |accessdate= (help)
18.^ Jump up to: a b "Broadway's Lion King Now Nine Minutes Shorter". playbill.com. Retrieved 22 March 2012.
19.Jump up ^ The South Bank Show: The Lion King Musical
20.^ Jump up to: a b Taymor, Julie, The Lion King: Pride Rock on Broadway, (Disney Editions, 1998)
21.Jump up ^ People's Daily Online – Disney musical debuts in Shanghai, impressing audience with Chinese elements
22.Jump up ^ "amazon.com listing for Lion King recordings", amazon.com
23.Jump up ^ "listing for London 2000 recording", amazon.com, accessed January 12, 2009
24.Jump up ^ http://www.ibdb.com/production.php?id=4761
External links
 Wikimedia Commons has media related to The Lion King.
Official website
Internet Broadway Database listing
"Disney musical debuts in Shanghai, impressing audience with Chinese elements" by Xinhua News Agency, People's Daily Online, July 19, 2006, retrieved October 18, 2006
The Lion King Musical Lyrics


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The Lion King (musical)
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The Lion King
The Lion King Musical.svg
Poster from the Broadway Production
 
Music
Elton John
Lyrics
Tim Rice
Book
Roger Allers
Irene Mecchi
Basis
1994 Disney animated film
The Lion King
Productions
1997 Minneapolis (tryout)
 1997 Broadway
 1998 Tokyo
 1999 Japan National Tour
 1999 London
 2000 Toronto
 2000 Los Angeles
 2001 Hamburg
 2002 U.S. National Tour
 2003 U.S. National Tour
 2003 Sydney
 2004 The Hague
 2006 Shanghai
 2006 Seoul
 2007 Johannesburg
 2007 Paris
 2008 Taipei
 2009 Las Vegas
 2011 Singapore
 2011 Madrid
 2012 U.K. National Tour
 2013 São Paulo
 2013 Sydney
Awards
1998 Tony Award for Best Musical
The Lion King is a musical based on the 1994 Disney animated film of the same name with music by Elton John and lyrics by Tim Rice along with the musical score created by Hans Zimmer with choral arrangements by Lebo M. Directed by Julie Taymor, the musical features actors in animal costumes as well as giant, hollow puppets. The show is produced by Disney Theatrical.
The musical debuted July 8, 1997, in Minneapolis, Minnesota at the Orpheum Theatre, and was an instant success before premiering on Broadway at the New Amsterdam Theater on October 15, 1997 in previews with the official opening on November 13, 1997. On June 13, 2006, the Broadway production moved to the Minskoff Theatre to make way for the musical version of Mary Poppins, where it is still running after more than 6,700 performances.[1] It is Broadway's fourth longest-running show in history and the highest grossing Broadway production of all time, having grossed more than $1 billion.[2]
The show debuted in the West End's Lyceum Theatre on October 19, 1999 and is still running. The cast of the West End production were invited to perform at the Royal Variety Performance 2008 at the London Palladium on December 11, in the presence of senior members of the British Royal Family.[3]
In September 2014, The Lion King became the top-earning title in box-office history for both stage productions and films, surpassing the record previously held by Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera, of which was the first to gross over $6 billion.[4]


Contents  [hide]
1 U.S. and international productions
2 Synopsis 2.1 Act I
2.2 Act II
2.3 Songs
3 Musical adaptation
4 Original Broadway cast
5 Original West End cast
6 Recordings 6.1 The Lion King: Original Broadway Cast Recording 6.1.1 Instrumentation

7 Awards and nominations 7.1 Original Broadway production
7.2 Original London production
7.3 Original France production
8 References
9 External links

U.S. and international productions

 

 Hamburg, Germany: Lion King Theatre
After the success of the Broadway show, the show was produced in the United Kingdom in 1999 by Harrison Lochtenberg, and continues to play at the Lyceum Theatre in London. Taymor led the British production of the show, with Melissa De Melo as the producer. The London Production has celebrated its 10th anniversary in the West End.
The show was translated into Japanese and staged by the Shiki Theatre Company. The Tokyo production began in 1998 and continues to the present day at the Shiki Theatre HARU.[5]
A Canadian production of the show was staged in Toronto and ran for nearly four years at the Princess of Wales Theatre. The show ran from 1999–2004.
A Los Angeles production began performances at the Pantages Theatre on September 29, 2000 with an official opening on October 19, 2000. The show closed on January 12, 2003 after 952 performances.
The show played at the Capitol Theatre in Sydney, Australia, from October 16, 2003, until June 26, 2005. The production then ran at the Regent Theatre in Melbourne from July 28, 2005 until June 4, 2006.
The musical had a Korean production from October 28, 2006 to October 28, 2007 at the Charlotte Theater, southern Seoul.
The Dutch production in 2004 was made at the Circus Theater until August 27, 2006, taking place for Tarzan.
Beginning in June 2007, The Lion King Musical debuted its first ever performance on the African continent in Johannesburg, South Africa. Its tenth year anniversary was celebrated in the new Teatro Theatre at Monte Casino in Fourways. The Lion King is the first production to take place in the new theatre. The opening night in Johannesburg, was celebrated with key persons involving the creation of the Lion King Musical, and American talk show host Oprah Winfrey, who had recently opened an educational academy for girls in Johannesburg[6] The show closed on February 17, 2008.
The Lion King Musical debuted in Paris on September 22, 2007 in the Théâtre Mogador.
There is currently one U.S. touring production. (At one time there were 2 US touring productions travelling simultaneously). The tour version is very similar to the original Broadway production; however, certain scenic elements which rise out of the stage floor (such as Pride Rock, the stampede, and the grasslands) were converted to less costly configurations for the touring productions. The sun during the opening is reduced in size for the shorter-lasting tours. Stage sizes are also smaller, and the size of the pit orchestra is decreased.
In August 2008, a production opened in Taipei, Taiwan, closing on August 24, 2009.
The musical had a Mexican limited run (in English) between January 3 and January 27, 2008 in Mexico City, as part of the U.S. national tour.[7]
A Las Vegas production opened at Mandalay Bay on May 15, 2009 with previews beginning May 5, 2009.[8]
On October 20, 2011 the first Spanish production opened at Teatro Lope de Vega in Madrid, produced by Stage Entertainment.[9]
The Lion King is coming to the Marina Bay Sands Theatre. Base Entertainment and Marina Bay Sands are bringing the Disney Theatrical Group production to Singapore.[10] The South-east Asian premiere in Singapore will be a duplicate of the other shows performing in other parts of the world, such as London and New York. It will feature a new company of performers auditioned around the world. The show debuted in March 2011, closing on October 30, 2011.[11]
It was announced that the production will come to Russia in near future.
On February 2012, it was announced that The Lion King will begin a UK tour, with Bristol performances beginning on August 31, 2012 and Manchester on December 1. Also, it was announced that a production at the Capitol Theatre in Sydney will debut in December 2013.[12]
A Brazilian production was confirmed to debut in São Paulo in March 28, 2013.[13] Auditions take place in São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Salvador. The cast contain mainly Brazilian actors and seven South African actors.[14] The Portuguese lyrics were translated by Brazilian singer Gilberto Gil.
It has been confirmed that an Ireland production will debut in 2013 as part of the United Kingdom tour.[15]
The Lion King will come back to Sydney's Capitol Theatre on December 12, 2013.[16]
In Switzerland, the musical will be performed for the first time starting March 2015, with shows planned until the end of May.[17]
Synopsis
Act I

 

 Actress Buyi Zama as Rafiki in Taiwan.
As the sun rises, Rafiki the mandrill calls the animals to Pride Rock. She greets King Mufasa and Queen Sarabi before presenting their cub to the gathered animals ("Circle of Life"). Elsewhere, Mufasa's brother, Scar, laments his lost chance at becoming king. Back at her baobab tree, Rafiki paints an image of the cub and asks the spirits to conjure the new prince's name: Simba.
Time passes and Simba grows into a lively young cub ("Grasslands Chant"). Mufasa shows Simba the Pride Lands from the top of Pride Rock and explains that everything exists in a delicate balance known as the Circle of Life. Mufasa warns Simba not to stray beyond the boundaries of the Pride Lands, pointing out a shadowy area in the distance. Zazu, a hornbill who acts as Mufasa's advisor, arrives and delivers his daily report on the state of affairs in the King's domain ("The Morning Report", now cut from the Broadway production).[18]

 

Geoff Hoyle as Zazu
Simba goes to see his uncle Scar. The scheming lion piques the cub's curiosity by mentioning the elephant graveyard, where Simba is forbidden to go. Meanwhile the lionesses go hunting ("The Lioness Hunt"). Simba arrives and asks his best friend, a female cub named Nala, to come with him to the elephant graveyard. He lies to the lionesses about where they are going, and Sarafina (Nala's mother) and Sarabi allow the cubs to go, escorted by Zazu. Simba and Nala formulate a plan and manage to lose Zazu, while Simba brags about his future position ("I Just Can't Wait to Be King").
The cubs go to the graveyard and begin to explore. Zazu catches up, but they are confronted by three hyenas: Shenzi, Banzai and Ed. The hyenas intend to eat the trespassers and gloat about their find ("Chow Down"). Mufasa rescues the cubs and frightens off the hyenas.
Mufasa is disappointed and angry at Simba's reckless disobedience, and explains the difference between bravery and bravado. Mufasa tells Simba about the great kings of the past and how they watch over everything from the stars ("They Live in You"). Mufasa says that he will always be there for his son. Later he discusses Simba's behavior with Zazu, who reminds Mufasa that he had the same tendency to get into trouble at Simba's age.
Back at the elephant graveyard, Scar tells the hyenas of a plan to kill Mufasa and Simba so that he can become king. He raises an army of hyenas, promising that they will never go hungry again if they support him ("Be Prepared"). Scar takes Simba to a gorge and tells him to wait there. On Scar's signal, the hyenas start a wildebeest stampede into the gorge ("The Stampede"). Scar tells Mufasa that Simba is trapped in the gorge. Mufasa leaps into the stampede and manages to save his son, but as he tries to escape, Scar throws him off the cliff back into the stampede killing him. Scar convinces Simba that his father's death was his fault and tells him to run away, but as he leaves, Scar orders the hyenas to kill him. Simba escapes but the hyenas tell Scar that he is dead. Rafiki and the lionesses mourn the deaths ("Rafiki Mourns"). Scar claims the throne and allows the hyenas into the Pride Lands ("Be Prepared (Reprise)"). Rafiki returns to her tree and smears the drawing of Simba, while Sarabi and Nala quietly grieve.
Out in the desert, Simba collapses from heat exhaustion. Vultures begin to circle, but are scared away by Timon the meerkat and Pumbaa the warthog. Simba feels responsible for Mufasa's death, but the duo take the cub to their jungle home and show him their carefree way of life and bug diet ("Hakuna Matata"). Simba grows to adulthood in the jungle.
Act II
The chorus, dressed in colorful clothes with ornate bird puppets and kites, begin the Second Act ("One by One"). As the song ends, however, the beautiful birds are replaced by vultures and gazelle skeletons. Under Scar's rule, the Circle of Life is out of balance and a drought has hit the Pride Lands. Zazu, now a prisoner of Scar, listens to the king's woes. The hyenas are complaining about the lack of food, but Scar is only concerned with himself and why he is not loved. He is haunted by visions of Mufasa and rapidly switches between delusional confidence and paranoid despair ("The Madness of King Scar"). Nala arrives to confront Scar about the famine and Scar decides she will be his queen and give him cubs. Nala fiercely rebukes him and resolves to leave the Pride Lands to find help. Rafiki and the lionesses bless her for her journey ("Shadowland").
Back in the jungle, Timon and Pumbaa want to sleep, but the restless Simba is unable to settle. Annoyed, Simba leaves them, but Timon and Pumbaa lose their courage and follow him. Simba leaps across a fast-moving river and challenges Timon to do the same. Timon falls in and is swept downstream. He grabs a branch over a waterfall and calls for Simba's help, but Simba is paralysed by a flashback of Mufasa's death. Timon falls from the branch and Simba snaps out of the flashback, rescuing his friend. Simba is ashamed that Timon nearly died because of his recklessness.
The three friends settle to sleep and discuss the stars. Simba recalls Mufasa's words, but his friends laugh at the notion of dead kings watching them. Simba leaves, expressing his loneliness and bitterly recalling Mufasa's promise to be there for him ("Endless Night"). Rafiki hears the song on the wind, joyfully realises that Simba is alive, and draws a mane onto her painting of Simba.
In the jungle, Pumbaa is hunted and chased by a lioness. Simba confronts her and saves his friend, but recognises the lioness as Nala. She is amazed to find Simba alive, knowing that he is the rightful king. Timon and Pumbaa are confused, but Simba asks them to leave him and Nala alone. Timon realizes what is happening and laments the end of Simba's Hakuna Matata lifestyle ("Can You Feel the Love Tonight"). Nala tells Simba about the devastated Pride Lands, but Simba still feels responsible for Mufasa's death and refuses to return.
On his own, Simba meets Rafiki, who explains that his father lives on ("He Lives in You"). Mufasa's spirit appears in the sky and tells Simba he is the one true king and must take his place in the Circle of Life. Reawakened, Simba finds his courage and heads for home. Meanwhile, Nala wakes Timon and Pumbaa to ask where Simba is, and Rafiki appears to tell them all the news. The three of them catch up with him in the Pride Lands, where he witnesses the ruin of his home. Timon and Pumbaa distract some hyenas by doing the Charleston, allowing Simba and Nala to reach Pride Rock.
Scar calls for Sarabi and demands to know why the lionesses are not hunting. Sarabi stands up to him about the lack of anything to hunt, angrily comparing him to Mufasa, and Scar strikes his sister-in-law, saying he's ten times the king Mufasa was. Enraged, Simba reveals himself. Scar forces a confession of murder from Simba and corners him. Believing that he has won, Scar taunts Simba by admitting that he killed Mufasa. Furious, Simba recovers and forces Scar to reveal the truth to the lionesses ("Simba Confronts Scar"). Simba's friends fight the hyenas while Simba battles Scar to the top of Pride Rock. Scar begs for his life, blaming the hyenas for everything. Simba lets him leave out of mercy, but Scar attacks again. Simba blocks the attack and Scar falls from the cliff. The hyenas, who heard Scar's betrayal and are still starving, tear him to shreds.
With the battle won, Simba's friends come forward and acknowledge Simba as the rightful king. Simba ascends Pride Rock and roars out across the kingdom ("King of Pride Rock"). The Pride Lands recover and the animals gather in celebration as Rafiki presents Simba and Nala's newborn cub, continuing the Circle of Life ("Circle of Life (Reprise)").
Songs
Act I

Song
Written by
Performed by
Sample

Circle of Life
Elton John and Tim Rice Rafiki and Ensemble 
Grasslands Chant
Lebo M Ensemble 
The Morning Report*
Elton John and Tim Rice Zazu, Young Simba and Mufasa 
The Lioness Hunt
Lebo M Ensemble 
I Just Can't Wait to Be King
Elton John and Tim Rice Young Simba, Young Nala, Zazu and Ensemble 
Chow Down
Shenzi, Banzai and Ed 
They Live in You
Mark Mancina, Jay Rifkin and Lebo M Mufasa and Ensemble 
Be Prepared
Elton John and Tim Rice Scar, Shenzi, Banzai, Ed and Ensemble 
The Stampede
Hans Zimmer and Lebo M Ensemble and Rafiki 
Rafiki Mourns
Ensemble 
Hakuna Matata
Elton John and Tim Rice Timon, Pumbaa, Young Simba, Simba and Ensemble 
Act II

Song
Written by
Performed by
Sample

One by One
Lebo M Ensemble 
The Madness of King Scar
Elton John and Tim Rice Scar, Zazu, Banzai, Shenzi, Ed and Nala 
Shadowland
Hans Zimmer, Lebo M, and Mark Mancina Nala, Rafiki and Ensemble About this sound sample (help·info)
Endless Night
Julie Taymor, Lebo M, Hans Zimmer and Jay Rifkin Simba and Ensemble 
Can You Feel the Love Tonight
Elton John and Tim Rice Timon, Pumbaa, Simba, Nala and Ensemble 
He Lives in You (Reprise)
Mark Mancina, Jay Rifkin and Lebo M Rafiki, Simba and Ensemble About this sound sample (help·info)
Simba Confronts Scar
Mark Mancina and Robert Elhai Instrumental 
King of Pride Rock/Circle of Life (Reprise)
Hans Zimmer and Lebo M/Elton John and Tim Rice Rafiki, Simba, Nala, Pumbaa, Timon, Zazu and Ensemble 
* Cut from the show as of June 27, 2010
Musical adaptation
The musical incorporates several changes and additions to the storyline as compared to the film. The mandrill Rafiki's gender was changed to a female role because Taymor believed that there was generally no leading female character in the film.[19] Rafiki was portrayed by Tsidii Le Loka in the original Broadway musical, and by Josette Bushell-Mingo in the original London production.

 

The Lion King on Broadway. showing originally at the New Amsterdam Theater (shown), it is now showing at the Minskoff.
Several new scenes are present, including a conversation between Mufasa and Zazu about Mufasa's parenting and a perilous scene in which Timon finds himself nearly drowning in a waterfall while Simba feels powerless to help him. A major narrative addition is the depiction of Nala's departure in the scene "The Madness of King Scar", where the mentally deteriorating villain tries to make Nala his mate. Nala refuses and later announces her intention to depart the Pride Lands and find help. She receives the blessings of the lionesses and Rafiki during the new song "Shadowland".

 

The Lion King in the West End
Like its predecessor, the Beauty and the Beast musical, the show adds more songs to its stage production, including "Morning Report", sung by Zazu the hornbill and later added to the film for the Platinum Edition DVD release. "Shadowland". originally featured on the CD Rhythm of the Pride Lands with Zulu lyrics as "Lea Halelela", was adapted for the musical with new English lyrics. It is sung by Nala, the lionesses, and Rafiki. "Endless Night", also from Rhythm of the Pride Lands with Swahili lyrics as "Lala", is sung by Simba while reflecting on Mufasa's promise to always be there. "One by One" from the Rhythm of the Pride Lands CD was adapted as the rousing African-styled entre act sung by the chorus at the opening of the second act.
Many of the animals portrayed in the production are actors in costume using extra tools to move their costumes. For example, the giraffes are portrayed by actors walking on stilts. For principal characters such as Mufasa and Scar, the costumes feature mechanical headpieces that can be raised and lowered to foster the illusion of a cat "lunging" at another. Other characters, such as the hyenas, Zazu, Timon, and Pumbaa, are portrayed by actors in life-sized puppets or costumes. The Timon character is described by Taymor as one of the hardest roles to master because the movement of the puppet's head and arms puts a strain on the actor's arms, back, and neck.[20]
Composer Lebo M led the original Broadway chorus.[20] The chorus members are usually visible in the production, rather than being hidden in the shadows as seen in some other musical shows.
A new section of the production, the Lioness Hunt, features a particularly complicated dance sequence for the actresses, and the dance is made even more difficult by the large headpieces worn during the scene.
During the show's run in China, Chinese elements were included in the musical. One of the songs was adapted to a well-known Chinese pop song, "Laoshu ai dami" or "Mice Love Rice". The cast even cracked jokes and attempted conversations with the audience in Chinese.[21]
As of June 27, 2010, nine minutes of the Broadway version were cut, among them the entire "Morning Report" musical number.[18] The song was also removed from subsequent productions and cast recordings, such as the Spanish one.

Original Broadway cast

Actor
Role
Jason Raize Simba
John Vickery Scar
Samuel E. Wright Mufasa
Heather Headley Nala
Tsidii Le Loka Rafiki
Max Casella Timon
Tom Alan Robbins Pumbaa
Geoff Hoyle Zazu
Tracy Nicole Chapman Shenzi
Stanley Wayne Mathis Banzai
Kevin Cahoon Ed
Gina Breedlove Sarabi
Scott Irby-Ranniar Young Simba
Kajuana Shuford Young Nala

Original West End cast

Actor
Role
Roger Wright Simba
Luke Youngblood Young Simba
Rob Edwards Scar
Cornell John Mufasa
Paulette Ivory Nala
Dominique Moore Young Nala
Josette Bushell-Mingo Rafiki
Simon Gregor Timon
Martyn Ellis Pumbaa
Gregory Gudgeon Zazu
Dawn Michael Sarabi
Stephanie Charles Shenzi
Paul J. Medford Banzai
Christopher Holt Ed
 
Recordings
Various international cast recordings are available on CD, including:[22]
1997 Broadway Cast
1999 Japanese Cast
2002 German Cast
2004 Dutch Cast
2007 French Cast
2007 South African Cast (live performance audio CD)
2011 Spanish Cast
2014 Australian Cast
Note: A recording entitled The Lion King, by the London Theatre Orchestra and Singers, was released on November 14, 2000 (D-3 Entertainment, ASIN: B00004ZDR6). This is not the London original cast recording.[23]
The Lion King: Original Broadway Cast Recording

 

The Lion King: Original Broadway Cast Recording album cover art
The Lion King: Original Broadway Cast Recording is a cast recording released on 1997 by The Walt Disney Company, a recording of the songs as heard in the stage musical. Most of the tracks were composed by African composer Lebo M. and focused primarily on the African influences of the film's original music, with most songs being sung either partially or entirely in various African languages.
The Spanish cast recording doesn't have "The Morning Report" maybe because the scene was removed from subsequent productions after the Broadway one. Also, it is the only one where "One by One" was renamed due to the language (in Spanish, it became "Somos mil"), though the song is performed with its original lyrics.
Rafiki's chants in "Rafiki Mourns" were written by Tsidii Le Loka, who originated the role on Broadway.
1."Circle of Life" – Faca Kulu, Lebo M, The Lion King Ensemble and Tsidii Le Loka
2."Grasslands Chant" – The Lion King Ensemble
3."The Morning Report" – Geoff Hoyle, Samuel E. Wright and Scott Irby-Ranniar
4."The Lioness Hunt" – Lebo M and The Lion King Ensemble
5."I Just Can't Wait to Be King" – Geoff Hoyle, Kajuana Shuford, Scott Irby-Ranniar and The Lion King Ensemble
6."Chow Down" – Kevin Cahoon, Stanley Wayne Mathis and Tracy Nicole Chapman
7."They Live in You" – Samuel E. Wright and The Lion King Ensemble
8."Be Prepared" – John Vickery, Kevin Cahoon, Stanley Wayne Mathis, The Lion King Ensemble and Tracy Nicole Chapman
9."The Stampede" – The Lion King Ensemble
10."Rafiki Mourns" – The Lion King Ensemble and Tsidii Le Loka
11."Hakuna Matata" – Jason Raize, Max Casella, Scott Irby-Ranniar, The Lion King Ensemble and Tom Alan Robbins
12."One by One" – Lebo M and The Lion King Ensemble
13."The Madness of King Scar" – Geoff Hoyle, Heather Headley, John Vickery, Kevin Cahoon, Stanley Wayne Mathis and Tracy Nicole Chapman
14."Shadowland" – Heather Headley, The Lion King Ensemble and Tsidii Le Loka
15."The Lion Sleeps Tonight" – Lebo M
16."Endless Night" – Jason Raize and The Lion King Ensemble
17."Can You Feel the Love Tonight" – Heather Headley, Jason Raize, Max Casella, The Lion King Ensemble and Tom Alan Robbins
18."He Lives in You (Reprise)" – Jason Raize, The Lion King Ensemble and Tsidii Le Loka
19."Simba Confronts Scar" – Mark Mancina and Robert Elhai
20."King of Pride Rock/Circle of Life (Reprise)" – Geoff Hoyle, Heather Headley, Jason Raize, Lebo M, Max Casella, The Lion King Ensemble, Tom Alan Robbins and Tsidii Le Loka
Note: The songs "Grasslands Chant", "The Lioness Hunt", "Chow Down", "They Live in You", "Rafiki Mourns", "One by One", "The Madness of King Scar", "Shadowland", "Endless Night" and "Simba Confronts Scar" are newest classics.
Instrumentation
The original broadway show included:[24]
1 wood flute soloist/flute/piccolo
1 concertmistress
2 violins
1 violin/viola
2 cellos
1 flute/clarinet/bass clarinet
3 French horns
1 trombone
1 bass trombone/tuba
1 upright & electric basses
1 drums
1 guitar
2 mallets/percussion
2 percussion
3 keyboard synthesizers
Awards and nominations
Original Broadway production

Year
Award Ceremony
Category
Nominee
Result
1998 Drama Desk Awards Outstanding Musical Nominated
Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical Max Casella Nominated
Geoff Hoyle Nominated
Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical Tsidii Le Loka Won
Outstanding Director Julie Taymor Won
Outstanding Choreography Garth Fagan Won
Outstanding Orchestrations Robert Elhai, David Metzger, and Bruce Fowler Nominated
Outstanding Set Design Richard Hudson Won
Outstanding Costume Design Julie Taymor Won
Outstanding Lighting Design Donald Holder Won
Outstanding Sound Design Tony Meola Won
Outstanding Puppet Design Julie Taymor and Michael Curry Won
Theatre World Awards  Max Casella Won
Tony Awards Best Musical Won
Best Book of a Musical Roger Allers and Irene Mecchi Nominated
Best Original Score Elton John, Tim Rice, Hans Zimmer, Lebo M, Mark Mancina, Jay Rifkin and Julie Taymor Nominated
Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical Samuel E. Wright Nominated
Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical Tsidii Le Loka Nominated
Best Direction of a Musical Julie Taymor Won
Best Choreography Garth Fagan Won
Best Orchestrations Robert Elhai, David Metzger and Bruce Fowler Nominated
Best Scenic Design for a Musical Richard Hudson Won
Best Costume Design for a Musical Julie Taymor and Michael Curry Won
Best Lighting Design of a Musical Donald Holder Won
Original London production

Year
Award Ceremony
Category
Nominee
Result
1999 Laurence Olivier Awards Best New Musical Nominated
Best Actor in a Musical Rob Edwards Nominated
Best Actress in a Musical Josette Bushell-Mingo Nominated
Best Director Julie Taymor Nominated
Best Theatre Choreographer Garth Fagan Won
Best Set Design Richard Hudson Nominated
Best Costume Design Julie Taymor Won
Best Lighting Design Donald Holder Nominated
Original France production

Year
Award Ceremony
Category
Nominee
Result
2008 Molière Awards Best Musical Won
Best Costume Design Julie Taymor Won
Best Lighting Design Donald Holder Won
References
1.Jump up ^ "Long Runs on Broadway", Playbill, January 19, 2014
2.Jump up ^ "Cumulative Broadway Grosses by Show". BroadwayWorld.com. Retrieved February 9, 2014.
3.Jump up ^ "An all-star line up unveiled for the 80th anniversary show on BBC ONE." (PDF). Entertainment Artistes' Benevolent Fund. Retrieved 2008-11-17.
4.Jump up ^ Gans, Andrew. "The Lion King Is Now Top-Earner in Box-Office History" Playbill.com, September 22, 2014
5.Jump up ^ Shiki Theatre Company Ongoing Productions
6.Jump up ^ Davie, Lucille."The Lion King comes home", southafrica.info, June 8, 2007
7.Jump up ^ 'The Lion King' Celebrates Successful Mexico City Premiere
8.Jump up ^ The Lion King Sesma, White, Williams, Zama and Simmons Cast in Las Vegas Lion King
9.Jump up ^ Gran estreno del musical de Disney EL REY LEÓN en el corazón de Madrid. El musical bate un récord nacional en venta de entradas ¡Nuevas funciones ya a la venta!
10.Jump up ^ "The Lion King", Marina Bay Sands official website
11.Jump up ^ "The Lion King Singapore (official website)". The Lion King Singapore. Retrieved 7 October 2011.
12.Jump up ^ "The Lion King", Disney, Sydney official website; and "The Lion King", Disney, London official site
13.Jump up ^ Musical "O Rei Leão" estreia em SP em março; conheça os atores da peça
14.Jump up ^ Musical 'O Rei Leão' chega à São Paulo em 2013
15.Jump up ^ The Lion King roars into Dublin
16.Jump up ^ "Rice's roar talent back on show". The Sydney Morning Herald. May 8, 2013. Retrieved May 9, 2013.
17.Jump up ^ "«The Lion King» kommt 2015 in die Schweiz". http://www.20min.ch/. 20 Minuten. April 29., 2014. Retrieved October 5., 2014. Check date values in: |date=, |accessdate= (help)
18.^ Jump up to: a b "Broadway's Lion King Now Nine Minutes Shorter". playbill.com. Retrieved 22 March 2012.
19.Jump up ^ The South Bank Show: The Lion King Musical
20.^ Jump up to: a b Taymor, Julie, The Lion King: Pride Rock on Broadway, (Disney Editions, 1998)
21.Jump up ^ People's Daily Online – Disney musical debuts in Shanghai, impressing audience with Chinese elements
22.Jump up ^ "amazon.com listing for Lion King recordings", amazon.com
23.Jump up ^ "listing for London 2000 recording", amazon.com, accessed January 12, 2009
24.Jump up ^ http://www.ibdb.com/production.php?id=4761
External links
 Wikimedia Commons has media related to The Lion King.
Official website
Internet Broadway Database listing
"Disney musical debuts in Shanghai, impressing audience with Chinese elements" by Xinhua News Agency, People's Daily Online, July 19, 2006, retrieved October 18, 2006
The Lion King Musical Lyrics


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The Lion King
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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This article is about Disney's 1994 film. For the Disney franchise, see The Lion King (franchise). For other uses, see The Lion King (disambiguation).
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The Lion King
In an African savannah, several animals stare at a lion atop a tall rock. A lion's head can be seen in the clouds above. Atop the image is the text "Walt Disney Pictures presents The Lion King".
Theatrical release poster by John Alvin[1]
 
Directed by
Roger Allers
Rob Minkoff
 
Produced by
Don Hahn
Written by
Irene Mecchi
Jonathan Roberts
Linda Woolverton
 
Starring
Matthew Broderick
James Earl Jones
Jeremy Irons
Jonathan Taylor Thomas
Moira Kelly
Nathan Lane
Ernie Sabella
Rowan Atkinson
Robert Guillaume
Madge Sinclair
Whoopi Goldberg
Cheech Marin
Jim Cummings
 
Music by
Hans Zimmer
Edited by
Ivan Bilancio
Production
 company
Walt Disney Pictures
Walt Disney Feature Animation
 
Distributed by
Buena Vista Pictures
Release dates
June 15, 1994
 
Running time
88 minutes[2]
Country
United States
Language
English
Budget
$45 million[3]
Box office
$987.5 million[3]
The Lion King is a 1994 American animated musical adventure film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Walt Disney Pictures. It is the 32nd animated feature in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series. The story takes place in a kingdom of lions in Africa, and was influenced by the biblical tales of Joseph and Moses and the Shakespearean play Hamlet. The film was produced during a period known as the Disney Renaissance. The Lion King was directed by Roger Allers and Rob Minkoff, produced by Don Hahn, and has a screenplay credited to Irene Mecchi, Jonathan Roberts and Linda Woolverton. Its songs were written by composer Elton John and lyricist Tim Rice, with an original score by Hans Zimmer. The film features a large ensemble voice cast led by Matthew Broderick, Jeremy Irons, James Earl Jones, Jonathan Taylor Thomas and Moira Kelly. The Lion King tells the story of Simba, a young lion who is to succeed his father, Mufasa, as king; however, after Simba's uncle Scar murders Mufasa, Simba is fooled into thinking he was responsible and flees into exile in shame and despair. Upon maturation living with two wastrels, Simba is given some valuable perspective from his friend, Nala, and his shaman, Rafiki, before returning to challenge Scar to end his tyranny.
Development of The Lion King began in 1988 during a meeting between Jeffrey Katzenberg, Roy E. Disney and Peter Schneider while promoting Oliver & Company in Europe. Thomas Disch wrote a film treatment, and Woolverton developed the first scripts while George Scribner was signed on as director, being later joined by Allers. Production began in 1991 concurrently with Pocahontas, which wound up attracting most of Disney's top animators. Some time after the staff traveled to Hell's Gate National Park in Kenya to research on the film's setting and animals, Scribner left production disagreeing with the decision to turn the film into a musical, and was replaced by Minkoff. When Hahn joined the project, he was dissatisfied with the script and the story was promptly rewritten. Nearly 20 minutes of animation sequences took place at Disney-MGM Studios in Florida. Computer animation was also used in several scenes, most notably in the wildebeest stampede scene.
The Lion King was released on June 15, 1994 to a positive reaction from critics, who praised the film for its music, story and animation; it finished its run as the highest-grossing release of 1994. Following a 3D re-release in 2011, with earnings of over US $987 million worldwide as of 2011, the film is the highest-grossing hand-drawn film in history, the highest-grossing 2D animated film in the United States and the 20th-highest-grossing feature film of all time. The Lion King garnered two Academy Awards for its achievement in music and the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy. The film lead to many derived works, such as a Broadway adaptation, two direct-to-video follow-ups—the sequel The Lion King II: Simba's Pride (1998) and the prequel/parallel The Lion King 1½ (2004)—and two spin-off series Timon and Pumbaa and The Lion Guard.


Contents  [hide]
1 Plot
2 Voice cast
3 Production 3.1 Development
3.2 Casting
3.3 Animation
4 Music
5 Release 5.1 Home media
6 Reception 6.1 Box office 6.1.1 Original theatrical run
6.1.2 Re-releases 6.1.2.1 IMAX and large-format
6.1.2.2 3D conversion

6.2 Critical response
6.3 Accolades
6.4 Controversies
7 Legacy 7.1 Sequels and spin-offs
7.2 Video games
7.3 Stage adaptations
8 References
9 External links

Plot
In the Pride Lands of Africa, a lion rules over the animals as king. The birth of son Simba to King Mufasa and Queen Sarabi creates envy and resentment in Mufasa's younger brother, Scar, who knows his nephew now replaces him as heir to the throne. After Simba has grown into a young cub, Mufasa gives him a tour of the Pride Lands, teaching him the responsibilities of being a king and the circle of life. Later that day, Scar tricks Simba and his best friend Nala into exploring a forbidden elephant graveyard, despite the protests of Mufasa's hornbill majordomo Zazu. At the graveyard, the spotted hyenas Shenzi, Banzai and Ed attack the cubs before Mufasa, alerted by Zazu, rescues them and forgives Simba for his actions. That night, the hyenas, who are allied with Scar, plot with him to kill Mufasa and Simba.
The next day Scar lures Simba to a gorge and tells him to wait there while he gets Mufasa. On Scar's orders, the hyenas stampede a large herd of wildebeest into the gorge. Mufasa rescues Simba, but as Mufasa tries to climb up the gorge's walls, Scar throws him back into the stampede, where he is trampled to death. After Simba finds Mufasa's body, Scar convinces him he was responsible for his father's death and advises Simba to flee the kingdom. As Simba leaves, Scar orders the hyenas to kill the cub, but Simba escapes. Scar announces to the other lions that both Mufasa and Simba were killed in the stampede and steps forward as the new king, allowing a pack of hyenas to live in the Pride Lands.
After running far away, Simba collapses from exhaustion in a desert. Timon and Pumbaa, a meerkat and a warthog, find him and nurse him back to health. Simba subsequently grows up with them in the jungle, living a carefree life with his friends under the motto "hakuna matata" ("no worries"). When he is a young adult, Simba rescues Timon and Pumbaa from a hungry lioness, who turns out to be Nala. She and Simba reconcile and fall in love. Nala urges Simba to return home, telling him the Pride Lands have become a wasteland with not enough food and water. Feeling guilty over his father's death, Simba refuses and storms off, leaving Nala disappointed and angry. As Simba enters the jungle, he encounters Mufasa's mandrill friend and advisor, Rafiki. Rafiki tells Simba that Mufasa is "alive" and takes him to a pond. There Simba is visited by the ghost of Mufasa in the sky, who tells him he must take his rightful place as the king of the Pride Lands. Simba realizes he can no longer run from his past and goes home. Nala, Timon, and Pumbaa join him, and agree to help him fight.
At the Pride Lands, Simba confronts Scar, who taunts Simba over his "part" in Mufasa's death. But when Scar pushes Simba to the edge of Pride Rock, he admits he himself killed Mufasa. Enraged, Simba roars back up and forces Scar to reveal the truth to the other lions. Timon, Pumbaa, Rafiki, Zazu, and the lionesses fend off the hyenas while Scar, attempting to escape, is cornered by Simba at the top of Pride Rock. Scar begs Simba for mercy, saying he is family and placing the blame on the hyenas. Simba says he does not believe Scar anymore but spares his life and commands him to forever leave the Pride Lands. Scar meekly walks past him, but then attacks his nephew. After a fierce battle, Simba throws his uncle off Pride Rock. Scar survives the fall, but is attacked and killed by the hyenas, who overheard his attempt to betray them.
With Scar and the hyenas gone, Simba ascends to the top of Pride Rock and takes over the kingdom as the rain falls again. Sometime later, with Pride Rock restored to its former glory, Simba looks down happily at his kingdom with Nala, Timon, and Pumbaa by his side; Rafiki presents Simba and Nala's newborn cub to the inhabitants of the Pride Lands, and the "circle of life" continues.
Voice cast
Main article: List of The Lion King characters

 

 A promotional image of the characters from the film. From left to right: Shenzi, Scar, Ed, Banzai, Rafiki, Young Simba, Mufasa, Young Nala, Sarabi, Zazu, Sarafina, Timon, and PumbaaMatthew Broderick as Simba, son of Mufasa and Sarabi, who grows up to become King of the Pride Lands. Joseph Williams provided adult Simba's singing voice. Mark Henn and Ruben A. Aquino respectively served as the supervising animators for young and adult Simba.[4] Jonathan Taylor Thomas voiced young Simba, while Jason Weaver provided the cub's singing voice.[4]
James Earl Jones as Mufasa, Simba's father, King of the Pride Lands as the film begins. Tony Fucile served as the supervising animator for Mufasa.[4]
Jeremy Irons as Scar, Mufasa's younger brother and Simba's uncle, who usurps the throne. Andreas Deja served as the supervising animator for Scar.[4]
Moira Kelly as Nala, Simba's best friend and later his wife. Sally Dworsky provided her singing voice. Aaron Blaise and Anthony de Rosa respectively served as the supervising animators for young and adult Nala.[4] Niketa Calame provided the voice of young Nala while Laura Williams provided her singing voice.[4]
Nathan Lane as Timon, a wise-cracking and self-absorbed meerkat. Michael Surrey served as his supervising animator.[4]
Ernie Sabella as Pumbaa, a naive warthog who suffers from flatulence and is Timon's best friend. Tony Bancroft served as his supervising animator.[4]
Robert Guillaume as Rafiki, a wise old mandrill (although, while counseling Simba, he jokes that "you are a baboon, and I am not") who serves as shaman of the Pride Lands and presents newborn cubs of the King and Queen to the animals of the Pride Lands. James Baxter served as the supervising animator for Rafiki.[4]
Rowan Atkinson as Zazu, a hornbill who serves as the king's majordomo (or "Mufasa's little stooge", as Shenzi calls him). Ellen Woodbury served as the supervising animator for Zazu.[4]
Madge Sinclair as Sarabi, Mufasa's mate, Simba's mother, and the leader of the lioness hunting party. Russ Edmonds served as the supervising animator for Sarabi.[4]
The three hyenas who serve Scar were animated by Alex Kupershmidt and David Burgess.[4] Whoopi Goldberg as Shenzi, the sassy and short-tempered female leader of the trio.
Cheech Marin as Banzai, an aggressive and hot-headed hyena prone to complaining and acting on impulse.
Jim Cummings as Ed, a dim-witted hyena who does not talk, only communicating through laughter. Cummings also voiced a gopher that talks with Zazu and replaced Irons as Scar in certain lines of "Be Prepared" after Irons blew his voice.[5]
Zoe Leader as Sarafina, Nala's mother, who is shown briefly talking to Simba's mother, Sarabi.
Production
Development
The idea for The Lion King was conceived in late 1988 during a conversation between Jeffrey Katzenberg, Roy E. Disney and Peter Schneider on a plane to Europe to promote Oliver & Company. During the conversation, the topic of a story set in Africa came up, and Katzenberg immediately jumped at the idea.[6] The idea was then developed by Walt Disney Feature Animation's vice president for creative affairs Charlie Fink.[7] Katzenberg decided to add elements involving coming of age and death, and ideas from personal life experiences, such as some of his trials in his bumpy road in politics, saying about the film, "It is a little bit about myself."[8] In November of that year Thomas Disch (author of The Brave Little Toaster) wrote a treatment entitled King of the Kalahari,[9] and afterwards Linda Woolverton spent a year writing drafts of the script, which was titled King of the Beasts and then King of the Jungle.[7] The original version of the film was very different from the final film. The plot was centered in a battle being between lions and baboons with Scar being the leader of the baboons, Rafiki being a cheetah,[8] and Timon and Pumbaa being Simba's childhood friends.[10] Simba would also not leave the kingdom, but become a "lazy, slovenly, horrible character" due to manipulations from Scar, so Simba could be overthrown after coming of age. By 1990, producer Thomas Schumacher, who had just completed The Rescuers Down Under, decided to attach himself to the project "because lions are cool".[7] Schumacher likened the script for King of the Jungle to "an animated National Geographic special".[11]
Oliver & Company director George Scribner was the initial director of the film,[12] being later joined by Roger Allers, who was the lead story man on Beauty and the Beast in October 1991.[6] Allers brought with him Brenda Chapman, who would become the head of story.[7] Afterwards, several of the lead crew members, including Allers, Scribner, Hahn, Chapman, and production designer Chris Sanders, took a trip to Hell's Gate National Park in Kenya, in order to study and gain an appreciation of the environment for the film.[13] After six months of story development work Scribner decided to leave the project, as he clashed with Allers and the producers on their decision to turn the film into a musical, as Scribner's intention was of making a documentary-like film more focused on natural aspects.[6][14] Rob Minkoff replaced Scribner,[13] and producer Don Hahn joined the production as Schumacher became only an executive producer due to Disney promoting him to Vice President of Development for Feature Animation.[11] Hahn found the script unfocused and lacking a clear theme, and after establishing the main theme as "leaving childhood and facing up to the realities of the world", asked for a final retool. Allers, Minkoff, Chapman and Hahn then rewrote the story across two weeks of meetings with directors Kirk Wise and Gary Trousdale, who had just finished Beauty and the Beast.[13] The script also had its title changed from King of the Jungle to The Lion King, as the setting was not the jungle but the savannah.[6]
The Lion King was the first Disney animated feature to be an original story, rather than being based on an already-existing work. The filmmakers have said that the story of The Lion King was inspired by the Joseph and Moses stories from the Bible and William Shakespeare's Hamlet.[15] During the summer of 1992, the team was joined by screenwriter Irene Mecchi, with a second screenwriter, Jonathan Roberts, joining a few months later. Mecchi and Roberts took charge of the revision process, fixing unresolved emotional issues in the script and adding comic business for Pumbaa, Timon and the hyenas.[4] Lyricist Tim Rice worked closely with the writing team, flying to California at least once a month, as his songs needed to work in the narrative continuity. Rice's lyrics – which were reworked up to the production's end – were even pinned to the storyboards during development.[13] Rewrites were frequent, with animator Andreas Deja saying that completed scenes would be delivered only for the response to be that parts needed to be reanimated due to dialog changes.[7]
Casting
The voice actors were chosen for how they fit and could add to the characters – for instance, James Earl Jones was cast because the directors found his voice "powerful" and similar to a lion's roar.[16] Jones commented that during the years of production, Mufasa "became more and more of a dopey dad instead of [a] grand king".[17] Nathan Lane originally auditioned for Zazu, and Ernie Sabella, for one of the hyenas. Upon meeting each other at the recording studio, the actors, who at the time both co-starred in Guys and Dolls, were asked to record together as hyenas. The directors laughed at their performance and decided to cast them as Timon and Pumbaa.[16][18] For the hyenas, the original intention was to reunite Cheech & Chong, but while Cheech Marin accepted to play Banzai, Tommy Chong was unavailable. Thus his role was changed into a female hyena, Shenzi, who was voiced by Whoopi Goldberg.[10] Matthew Broderick was cast as adult Simba early during production, and during the three years of voice acting only recorded with another actor once, and only discovered Moira Kelly voiced Nala at the premiere.[19] Jeremy Irons had at first refused the role due to not being comfortable going from the dramatic performance as Claus von Bülow in Reversal of Fortune to a comedic role. But once he came in, Irons' performance even inspired the writers to incorporate more of his acting as von Bülow - even adding one of that character's lines, "You have no idea" - and animator Andreas Deja to watch both Reversal of Fortune and Damage to pick up Irons' facial traits and tics.[17][20]
Animation



"The Lion King was considered a little movie because we were going to take some risks. The pitch for the story was a lion cub gets framed for murder by his uncle set to the music of Elton John. People said, 'What? Good luck with that.' But for some reason, the people who ended up on the movie were highly passionate about it and motivated."
Don Hahn[18]
The development of The Lion King started concurrently with Pocahontas, which most of the animators of Walt Disney Feature Animation decided to work on instead, believing it would be the more prestigious and successful of the two.[15] The story artists also did not have much faith in the project, with Brenda Chapman declaring she was reluctant to accept the job "because the story wasn't very good",[7] and writer Burny Mattinson saying to co-worker Joe Ranft about the film that "I don't know who is going to want to watch that one."[14] Most of the leading animators were either doing their first major work supervising a character, or had much interest in animating an animal.[8] Thirteen of these supervising animators, both in California and Florida, were responsible for establishing the personalities and setting the tone for the film's main characters. The animation leads for the main characters included Mark Henn on young Simba, Ruben A. Aquino on adult Simba, Andreas Deja on Scar, Aaron Blaise on young Nala, Anthony DeRosa on adult Nala, and Tony Fucile on Mufasa.[4] Nearly 20 minutes of the film, including the "I Just Can't Wait to Be King" sequence,[10] were animated at the Disney-MGM Studios facility. Ultimately, more than 600 artists, animators and technicians contributed to The Lion King over the course of its production.[12] Weeks before the film was to be released, production was affected by the 1994 Northridge earthquake, which shut off the studio and required the animators to finish their work from home.[21]
The character animators studied real-life animals for reference, as was done for the 1942 Disney film Bambi. Jim Fowler, renowned wildlife expert, visited the studios on several occasions with an assortment of lions and other savannah inhabitants to discuss behavior and help the animators give their drawings an authentic feel.[13] The Pride Lands are modeled on the Kenyan national park visited by the crew. Varied focal lengths and lenses were employed to differ from the habitual portrayal of Africa in documentaries – which employ telephoto lenses to shoot the wildlife from a distance. The epic feel drew inspiration from concept studies by artist Hans Bacher – which, following Scribner's request for realism, tried to depict effects such as lens flare – and the works of painters Charles Marion Russell, Frederic Remington and Maxfield Parrish.[13][22] Since the characters were not anthropomorphized, all the animators had to learn to draw four-legged animals, and the story and character development was done through usage of longer shots following the characters.[10]
The use of computers helped the filmmakers present their vision in new ways. The most notable use of computer animation is in the "wildebeest stampede" sequence. Several distinct wildebeest characters were created in a 3D computer program, multiplied into hundreds, cel shaded to look like drawn animation, and given randomized paths down a mountainside to simulate the real, unpredictable movement of a herd. [23] Five specially trained animators and technicians spent more than two years creating the two-and-a-half minute stampede sequence.[4] Other usages of computer animation were done through CAPS, which helped simulate camera movements such as tracking shots, and was employed on the coloring, lighting and particle effects.[10]
Music
Main article: The Lion King (soundtrack)
Lyricist Tim Rice, who was working with composer Alan Menken on songs for Aladdin, was invited to write the songs, and accepted on the condition of finding a composing partner. As Menken was unavailable, the producers accepted Rice's suggestion of Elton John,[16] after Rice's invitation of ABBA fell through due to Benny Andersson being busy with the musical Kristina från Duvemåla.[8] John expressed an interest in writing "ultra-pop songs that kids would like; then adults can go and see those movies and get just as much pleasure out of them", mentioning a possible influence of The Jungle Book, where he felt the "music was so funny and appealed to kids and adults".[24]
John and Rice wrote five original songs for this film ("Circle of Life", "I Just Can't Wait to Be King", "Be Prepared", "Hakuna Matata" and "Can You Feel the Love Tonight") with the singer's performance of "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" playing over the end credits.[25] The IMAX and DVD releases added another song, "The Morning Report", which was based on a song discarded during development that eventually got featured in the live musical version of The Lion King.[26] The film's score was composed by Hans Zimmer, who was hired based on his work in two films in African settings, The Power of One and A World Apart,[13] and supplemented the score with traditional African music and choir elements arranged by Lebo M.[25] Zimmer's partners Mark Mancina and Jay Rifkin helped with arrangements and song production.[27]
The film's original motion picture soundtrack was released by Walt Disney Records on July 13, 1994. It was the fourth-best-selling album of the year on the Billboard 200 and the top-selling soundtrack.[28] It is the only soundtrack for an animated film to be certified Diamond (10× platinum) by the Recording Industry Association of America. Zimmer's complete instrumental score for the film was never originally given a full release by Disney, until the soundtrack's commemorative 20th anniversary re-release in 2014.[29] The Lion King also inspired the 1995 release Rhythm of the Pride Lands, with eight songs by Zimmer, Mancina, and Lebo M.[30]
The use of the song "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" in a scene with Timon and Pumbaa has led to disputes between Disney and the family of South African Solomon Linda, who composed the song (originally titled "Mbube") in 1939. In July 2004, the family filed suit, seeking $1.6 million in royalties from Disney. In February 2006, Linda's heirs reached a legal settlement with Abilene Music, who held the worldwide rights and had licensed the song to Disney for an undisclosed amount of money.[31]
Release
For The Lion King '​s first film trailer, Disney opted to for the first time feature a single scene, the entire opening sequence with the song "Circle of Life". Buena Vista Pictures Distribution president Dick Cook said the decision was made for such an approach because "we were all so taken by the beauty and majesty of this piece that we felt like it was probably one of the best four minutes of film that we've seen", and Don Hahn added that "Circle of Life" worked as a trailer as it "came off so strong, and so good, and ended with such a bang". The trailer was released in November 1993, accompanying The Three Musketeers in theaters, as only a third of The Lion King had been completed.[32][33] Audience reaction was enthusiastic, causing Hahn to have some initial concerns as he became afraid of not living up to the expectations raised by the preview.[32] Prior to the film's release, Disney did 11 test screenings.[34]
Upon release, The Lion King was accompanied by an extensive marketing campaign which included tie-ins with Burger King, Mattel, Kodak, Nestlé and Payless ShoeSource, and various merchandise,[35] accounting 186 licensed products.[36][37] In 1994, Disney earned approximately $1 billion with products based on the film,[38] with $214 million for Lion King toys during Christmas 1994 alone.[39]
Home media
The Lion King was first released on VHS and laserdisc in the United States on March 3, 1995, under Disney's "Masterpiece Collection" video series. In addition, Deluxe Editions of both formats were released. The VHS Deluxe Edition included the film, an exclusive lithograph of Rafiki and Simba (in some editions), a commemorative "Circle of Life" epigraph, six concept art lithographs, another tape with the half-hour TV show The Making of The Lion King, and a certificate of authenticity. The CAV laserdisc Deluxe Edition also contained the film, six concept art lithographs and The Making of The Lion King, and added storyboards, character design artwork, concept art, rough animation, and a directors' commentary that the VHS edition did not have, on a total of four double sided discs. The VHS tape quickly became the best-selling videotape of all time: 4.5 million tapes were sold on the first day[40] and ultimately sales totaled more than 30 million[41] before these home video versions went into moratorium in 1997.[42]
On October 7, 2003, the film was re-released on VHS and released on DVD for the first time, titled The Lion King: Platinum Edition, as part of Disney's Platinum Edition line of animated classic DVDs. The DVD release featured two versions of the film on the first disc, a remastered version created for the 2002 IMAX release and an edited version of the IMAX release purporting to be the original 1994 theatrical version.[43] A second disc, with bonus features, was also included in the DVD release. The film's soundtrack was provided both in its original Dolby 5.1 track and in a new Disney Enhanced Home Theater Mix, making this one of the first Disney DVDs so equipped.[44] By means of seamless branching, the film could be viewed either with or without a newly created scene – a short conversation in the film replaced with a complete song ("The Morning Report"). A Special Collector's Gift Set was also released, containing the DVD set, five exclusive lithographed character portraits (new sketches created and signed by the original character animators), and an introductory book entitled The Journey.[42] The Platinum Edition of The Lion King featured changes made to the film during its IMAX re-release, including re-drawn crocodiles in the "I Just Can't Wait to Be King" sequence as well as other alterations.[43] More than two million copies of the Platinum Edition DVD and VHS units were sold on the first day of release.[40] A DVD boxed set of the three The Lion King films (in two-disc Special Edition formats) was released on December 6, 2004. In January 2005, the film, along with the sequels, went back into moratorium.[45]
Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment released the Diamond Edition of The Lion King on October 4, 2011.[46] This marks the time that the film has been released in high-definition Blu-ray and on Blu-ray 3D.[46][47] The initial release was produced in three different packages: a two-disc version with Blu-ray and DVD; a four-disc version with Blu-ray, DVD, Blu-ray 3D, and digital copy; and an eight-disc box set that also includes the sequels The Lion King 2: Simba's Pride and The Lion King 1½.[46][47] A standalone single-disc DVD release also followed on November 15, 2011.[46] The Diamond Edition topped the Blu-ray charts with over 1.5 million copies sold.[48] The film sold 3.83 million Blu-ray units in total, leading to a $101.14 million income.[49]
Reception
Box office
The Lion King earned $422,783,777 in North America and an $564,700,000 in other territories for a worldwide total of $987,483,777.[3] It is the 20th highest-grossing film,[50] the third-highest-grossing animated film of all time worldwide and the second highest-grossing film of Walt Disney Animation Studios (behind Frozen).[51] The film was also the highest-grossing motion picture of 1994 worldwide.[52] After its initial run, having earned $768.6 million,[53] it ranked as the second-highest grossing film of all time worldwide, behind Jurassic Park .[54] It held the record for the highest-grossing animated feature film (in North America, outside North America, and worldwide) until it was surpassed by the computer animated Finding Nemo (2003), Shrek 2 (2004), Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (2009), Toy Story 3 (2010), and Frozen (2013). During its 3D re-release, The Lion King surpassed all the afomentioned films but Toy Story 3 to rank as the second-highest-grossing animated film worldwide - later downgraded to third after 2013's Frozen - and the highest-grossing hand-drawn animation.[55] It is also the biggest animated movie of the last 50 years in terms of estimated attendance.[56]
Original theatrical run
The Lion King had a limited release in North America on June 15, 1994, playing in only two theaters, El Capitan Theater in Los Angeles and Radio City Music Hall in New York City.[57] It still earned $1,586,753 across the weekend of June 17–19, standing at the tenth place of the box office ranking.[58] The average of $793,377 per theater stands as the largest ever achieved during a weekend.[59] The wide release followed on June 24, 1994, in 2,550 screens. The digital surround sound of the film led many of those theater to implement Dolby Laboratories' newest sound systems.[60] The Lion King grossed $40.9 million – which at the time was the fourth biggest opening weekend earning ever and the highest sum for a Disney film – to top the weekend box office.[12] It also earned a rare "A+" rating from CinemaScore.[61] By the end of its theatrical run, in spring 1995, it had earned $312,855,561,[3] being the second-highest-grossing 1994 film in North America behind Forrest Gump.[62] Outside North America, it earned $455.8 million during its initial run, for a worldwide total of $768.6 million.[53]
Re-releases
IMAX and large-format
The film was re-issued on December 25, 2002 for IMAX and large-format theaters. Don Hahn explained that eight years after The Lion King got its original release, "there was a whole new generation of kids who haven't really seen it, particularly on the big screen." Given the film had already been digitally archived during production, the restoration process was easier, while also providing many scenes with enhancements that covered up original deficiencies.[34][63] An enhanced sound mix was also provided, to as Hahn explained, "make the audience feel like they're in the middle of the movie."[34] On its first weekend, The Lion King made $2.7 million from 66 locations, a $27,664 per theater average. This run ended with $15,686,215 on May 30, 2003.[64]
3D conversion
In 2011, The Lion King was converted to 3D for a two-week limited theatrical re-issue and subsequent 3D Blu-ray release.[46][65] The film opened at the number one spot on Friday, September 16, 2011 with $8.9 million[66] and finished the weekend with $30.2 million, ranking number one at the box office. This made The Lion King the first re-issue release to earn the number-one slot at the American weekend box office since the re-issue of Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi in March 1997.[55] The film also achieved the fourth-highest September opening weekend of all time.[67] It held off very well on its second weekend, again earning first place at the box office with a 27% decline to $21.9 million.[68] Most box-office observers had expected the film to fall about 50% in its second weekend and were also expecting Moneyball to be at first place.[69]
After its initial box-office success, many theaters decided to continue to show the film for more than two weeks, even though its 3D Blu-ray release was scheduled for two-and-a-half weeks after its theatrical release.[68] In North America, the 3D re-release ended its run in theaters on January 12, 2012 with a gross $94,242,001. Outside North America, it earned $83,400,000.[70] The successful 3D re-release of The Lion King made Disney and Pixar plan 3D theatrical re-releases of Beauty and the Beast, Finding Nemo, Monsters, Inc., and The Little Mermaid during 2012 and 2013.[71] However, none of the re-releases of the first three films achieved the enormous success of The Lion King 3D and theatrical re-release of the The Little Mermaid was ultimately cancelled.[72] In 2012, Ray Subers of Box Office Mojo wrote that the reason why the 3D version of The Lion King succeeded was because, "the notion of a 3D re-release was still fresh and exciting, and The Lion King (3D) felt timely given the movie's imminent Blu-ray release. Audiences have been hit with three 3D re-releases in the year since, meaning the novelty value has definitely worn off."[73]
Critical response
The Lion King was released to critical acclaim. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a rating of 90%, based on 110 reviews, with an average rating of 8.2/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Emotionally stirring, richly drawn, and beautifully animated, The Lion King stands tall within Disney's pantheon of classic family films."[74] On Metacritic, the film has a score of 83 out of 100, based on 14 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".[75]
Roger Ebert gave it 3 1/2 out of 4-stars and called the film "a superbly drawn animated feature" and, in his print review wrote, "The saga of Simba, which in its deeply buried origins owes something to Greek tragedy and certainly to Hamlet, is a learning experience as well as an entertainment."[76] On the television program Siskel & Ebert, the film was praised but received a mixed reaction when compared to previous Disney films. Ebert and his partner Gene Siskel both gave the film a "Thumbs Up" but Siskel said that it was not as good as earlier films such as Beauty and the Beast and was "a good film, not a great one".[77] Hal Hinson of The Washington Post called it "an impressive, almost daunting achievement" and felt that the film was "spectacular in a manner that has nearly become commonplace with Disney's feature-length animations", but was less enthusiastic toward the end of his review saying, "Shakespearean in tone, epic in scope, it seems more appropriate for grown-ups than for kids. If truth be told, even for adults it is downright strange."[78]
Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly praised the film, writing that it "has the resonance to stand not just as a terrific cartoon but as an emotionally pungent movie".[79] Rolling Stone film critic Peter Travers praised the film and felt that it was "a hugely entertaining blend of music, fun and eye-popping thrills, though it doesn't lack for heart".[80] James Berardinelli from ReelViews praised the film saying, "With each new animated release, Disney seems to be expanding its already-broad horizons a little more. The Lion King is the most mature (in more than one sense) of these films, and there clearly has been a conscious effort to please adults as much as children. Happily, for those of us who generally stay far away from 'cartoons', they have succeeded."[81]
Some reviewers still had problems with the film's narrative. The staff of TV Guide wrote that while The Lion King was technically proeficient and entertaining, it "offers a less memorable song score than did the previous hits, and a hasty, unsatisfying dramatic resolution."[82] The New Yorker's Terrence Rafferty considered that despite the good animation, the story felt like "manipulat[ing] our responses at will", as "Between traumas, the movie serves up soothingly banal musical numbers and silly, rambunctious comedy".[83]
Accolades
The Lion King received four Golden Globe and Academy Award nominations. The film would go on to win two Golden Globes; for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy and Best Original Score,[84] as well as two Academy Awards, for Best Original Score (Hans Zimmer) and Best Original Song with "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" by Elton John and Tim Rice.[85] The songs "Circle of Life" and "Hakuna Matata" were also nominated.[85] "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" also won the Grammy Award for Best Male Vocal Performance.[86] The Lion King also won Annie Awards for Best Animated Feature, Best Achievement in Voice Acting (for Jeremy Irons) and Best Individual Achievement for Story Contribution in the Field of Animation.[87]
At the Saturn Awards, the film was nominated in two categories, Best Fantasy Film and Best Performance by a Younger Actor although it did not win in either category.[88] The film also received two nominations at the British Academy Film Awards, for Best Sound as well as the Anthony Asquith Award for Film Music although it lost in both categories to Speed and Backbeat respectively.[89] The film received two BMI Film & TV Awards for Film Music and Most Performed Song with "Can You Feel the Love Tonight."[90] At the 1995 MTV Movie Awards the film received nominations for Best Villain and Best Song, though it lost in both categories.[91] The Lion King won the Kids' Choice Award for Favorite Movie at the 1995 Kids' Choice Awards.[92]
In 2008, The Lion King was ranked as the 319th greatest film ever made by Empire magazine,[93] and in June 2011, TIME named it one of "The 25 All-TIME Best Animated Films".[94] In June 2008, the American Film Institute listed The Lion King as the fourth best film in the animation genre in its AFI's 10 Top 10 list,[95] having previously put "Hakuna Matata" as 99th on its AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs ranking.[96]
Controversies
Certain elements of the film were considered to bear a resemblance to a famous 1960s Japanese anime television show, Jungle Emperor (Kimba the White Lion), with characters having analogues, and various individual scenes being nearly identical in composition and camera angle. Matthew Broderick believed initially that he was in fact working on a remake of Kimba, since he was familiar with the Japanese original.[97] Disney's official stance is that the similarities are all coincidental.[98] Yoshihiro Shimizu, of Tezuka Productions, which created Kimba the White Lion, has refuted rumours that the studio was paid hush money by Disney but explains that they rejected urges from within the industry to sue because, "we're a small, weak company. It wouldn't be worth it anyway ... Disney's lawyers are among the top twenty in the world!"[99]

Simba lays down on a cliff, while the airborne dust next to him resembles the shape "SFX".

 The alleged "SEX" frame.
Protests were raised against one scene where it appears as if the word "SEX" might have been embedded into the dust flying in the sky when Simba flops down,[100] which conservative activist Donald Wildmon asserted was a subliminal message intended to promote sexual promiscuity. The film's animators have stated that the letters spell "SFX" (a common abbreviation of "special effects"), and was intended as an innocent "signature" created by the effects animation team.[101]
Hyena biologists protested against the animal's portrayal: one hyena researcher sued Disney studios for defamation of character,[102] and another—who had organized the animators' visit to the University of California's Field Station for Behavioural Research, where they would observe and sketch captive hyenas—[103] included boycotting The Lion King among the ways it would help preserve hyenas in the wild.[104] The hyenas have also been interpreted to represent an anti-immigrant allegory, where the hyenas would be black and Latino ethnic communities.[105][106][107][108]
Legacy
Sequels and spin-offs
The first Lion King-related animated projects involved the characters of Timon and Pumbaa. First the duo starred in the animated short "Stand by Me", featuring Timon singing the eponymous song, which was released in 1995 accompanying the theatrical release of Tom and Huck. Then the duo received their own animated show, The Lion King's Timon and Pumbaa, which ran for three seasons and 85 episodes between 1995 and 1999. Ernie Sabella continued to voice Pumbaa, while Timon was voiced by Quinton Flynn and Kevin Schon in addition to Nathan Lane himself.[109]
Disney released two direct-to-video films related to The Lion King. The first was sequel The Lion King II: Simba's Pride, issued in 1998 on VHS. The film centers around Simba and Nala's daughter, Kiara, who falls in love with Kovu, a male lion who was raised in a pride of Scar's followers, the Outsiders.[110] 2004 saw the release of another Lion King film on DVD, The Lion King 1½. It is a prequel in showing how Timon and Pumbaa met each other, and also a parallel in that it also depicts what the characters were retconned to have done during the events of the original movie.[111]
In June 2014, it was announced that a new TV series based on the film will be released called The Lion Guard and it will feature Kion, the son of Simba. It will be broadcast on Disney Junior first as a television film on November 2015 before episodes broadcast in January 2016.[112]
Video games
Main article: The Lion King (video game)
Along with the film release, three different video games based on The Lion King were released by Virgin Interactive on December 1994. The main title was developed by Westwood Studios, and published for PC and Amiga computers and the consoles SNES and Sega Mega Drive/Genesis. Dark Technologies created the Game Boy version, while Syrox Developments handled the Master System and Game Gear version.[113] The film and sequel Simba's Pride later inspired another game, Torus Games' The Lion King: Simba's Mighty Adventure (2000) for the Game Boy Color and PlayStation.[114] Timon and Pumbaa also appeared in Timon & Pumbaa's Jungle Games, a 1995 PC game collection of puzzle games by 7th Level, later ported to the SNES by Tiertex.[115]
The Square Enix series Kingdom Hearts features Simba as a recurring summon,[116][117] as well as a playable in the Lion King world, known as Pride Lands, in Kingdom Hearts II. There the plotline is loosely related to the later part of the original film, with all of the main characters except Zazu and Sarabi.[118] The Lion King also provides one of the worlds featured in the 2011 action-adventure game Disney Universe,[119] and Simba was featured in the Nintendo DS title Disney Friends (2008).[120]
Stage adaptations
Main article: The Lion King (musical)

The façade of Minskoff Theatre at Broadway, with banners promoting the Lion King musical.

 Advertisements for the musical adaptation of The Lion King at Minskoff Theatre.
Walt Disney Theatrical produced a musical stage adaptation of the same name, which premiered in Minneapolis, Minnesota in July 1997, and later opened on Broadway in October 1997 at the New Amsterdam Theatre. The Lion King musical was directed by Julie Taymor and featured songs from both the movie and Rhythm of the Pride Lands, along with three new compositions by Elton John and Tim Rice. Mark Mancina did the musical arrangements and new orchestral tracks.[121] The musical became one of the most successful in Broadway history, winning six Tony Awards including Best Musical, and despite moving to the Minskoff Theatre in 2006, is still running to this day in New York, becoming the fourth longest-running show and highest grossing Broadway production in history. The show's financial success led to adaptations all over the world.[11][122][123]
The Lion King inspired two attractions retelling the story of the film at Walt Disney Parks and Resorts. The first, "The Legend of the Lion King", featured a recreation of the film through life size puppets of its characters, and ran from 1994 to 2002 at Magic Kingdom in Walt Disney World.[124] Another that is still running is the live-action 30-minute musical revue of the movie, "Festival of the Lion King", which incorporates the musical numbers into gymnastic routines with live actors, along with animatronic puppets of Simba and Pumba and a costumed actor as Timon. The attraction opened in April 1998 at Disney World's Animal Kingdom,[125] and in September 2005 in Hong Kong Disneyland's Adventureland.[126] A similar version under the name "The Legend of the Lion King" was featured in Disneyland Paris from 2004 to 2009.[127][128]

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The Lion King
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This article is about Disney's 1994 film. For the Disney franchise, see The Lion King (franchise). For other uses, see The Lion King (disambiguation).
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The Lion King
In an African savannah, several animals stare at a lion atop a tall rock. A lion's head can be seen in the clouds above. Atop the image is the text "Walt Disney Pictures presents The Lion King".
Theatrical release poster by John Alvin[1]
 
Directed by
Roger Allers
Rob Minkoff
 
Produced by
Don Hahn
Written by
Irene Mecchi
Jonathan Roberts
Linda Woolverton
 
Starring
Matthew Broderick
James Earl Jones
Jeremy Irons
Jonathan Taylor Thomas
Moira Kelly
Nathan Lane
Ernie Sabella
Rowan Atkinson
Robert Guillaume
Madge Sinclair
Whoopi Goldberg
Cheech Marin
Jim Cummings
 
Music by
Hans Zimmer
Edited by
Ivan Bilancio
Production
 company
Walt Disney Pictures
Walt Disney Feature Animation
 
Distributed by
Buena Vista Pictures
Release dates
June 15, 1994
 
Running time
88 minutes[2]
Country
United States
Language
English
Budget
$45 million[3]
Box office
$987.5 million[3]
The Lion King is a 1994 American animated musical adventure film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Walt Disney Pictures. It is the 32nd animated feature in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series. The story takes place in a kingdom of lions in Africa, and was influenced by the biblical tales of Joseph and Moses and the Shakespearean play Hamlet. The film was produced during a period known as the Disney Renaissance. The Lion King was directed by Roger Allers and Rob Minkoff, produced by Don Hahn, and has a screenplay credited to Irene Mecchi, Jonathan Roberts and Linda Woolverton. Its songs were written by composer Elton John and lyricist Tim Rice, with an original score by Hans Zimmer. The film features a large ensemble voice cast led by Matthew Broderick, Jeremy Irons, James Earl Jones, Jonathan Taylor Thomas and Moira Kelly. The Lion King tells the story of Simba, a young lion who is to succeed his father, Mufasa, as king; however, after Simba's uncle Scar murders Mufasa, Simba is fooled into thinking he was responsible and flees into exile in shame and despair. Upon maturation living with two wastrels, Simba is given some valuable perspective from his friend, Nala, and his shaman, Rafiki, before returning to challenge Scar to end his tyranny.
Development of The Lion King began in 1988 during a meeting between Jeffrey Katzenberg, Roy E. Disney and Peter Schneider while promoting Oliver & Company in Europe. Thomas Disch wrote a film treatment, and Woolverton developed the first scripts while George Scribner was signed on as director, being later joined by Allers. Production began in 1991 concurrently with Pocahontas, which wound up attracting most of Disney's top animators. Some time after the staff traveled to Hell's Gate National Park in Kenya to research on the film's setting and animals, Scribner left production disagreeing with the decision to turn the film into a musical, and was replaced by Minkoff. When Hahn joined the project, he was dissatisfied with the script and the story was promptly rewritten. Nearly 20 minutes of animation sequences took place at Disney-MGM Studios in Florida. Computer animation was also used in several scenes, most notably in the wildebeest stampede scene.
The Lion King was released on June 15, 1994 to a positive reaction from critics, who praised the film for its music, story and animation; it finished its run as the highest-grossing release of 1994. Following a 3D re-release in 2011, with earnings of over US $987 million worldwide as of 2011, the film is the highest-grossing hand-drawn film in history, the highest-grossing 2D animated film in the United States and the 20th-highest-grossing feature film of all time. The Lion King garnered two Academy Awards for its achievement in music and the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy. The film lead to many derived works, such as a Broadway adaptation, two direct-to-video follow-ups—the sequel The Lion King II: Simba's Pride (1998) and the prequel/parallel The Lion King 1½ (2004)—and two spin-off series Timon and Pumbaa and The Lion Guard.


Contents  [hide]
1 Plot
2 Voice cast
3 Production 3.1 Development
3.2 Casting
3.3 Animation
4 Music
5 Release 5.1 Home media
6 Reception 6.1 Box office 6.1.1 Original theatrical run
6.1.2 Re-releases 6.1.2.1 IMAX and large-format
6.1.2.2 3D conversion

6.2 Critical response
6.3 Accolades
6.4 Controversies
7 Legacy 7.1 Sequels and spin-offs
7.2 Video games
7.3 Stage adaptations
8 References
9 External links

Plot
In the Pride Lands of Africa, a lion rules over the animals as king. The birth of son Simba to King Mufasa and Queen Sarabi creates envy and resentment in Mufasa's younger brother, Scar, who knows his nephew now replaces him as heir to the throne. After Simba has grown into a young cub, Mufasa gives him a tour of the Pride Lands, teaching him the responsibilities of being a king and the circle of life. Later that day, Scar tricks Simba and his best friend Nala into exploring a forbidden elephant graveyard, despite the protests of Mufasa's hornbill majordomo Zazu. At the graveyard, the spotted hyenas Shenzi, Banzai and Ed attack the cubs before Mufasa, alerted by Zazu, rescues them and forgives Simba for his actions. That night, the hyenas, who are allied with Scar, plot with him to kill Mufasa and Simba.
The next day Scar lures Simba to a gorge and tells him to wait there while he gets Mufasa. On Scar's orders, the hyenas stampede a large herd of wildebeest into the gorge. Mufasa rescues Simba, but as Mufasa tries to climb up the gorge's walls, Scar throws him back into the stampede, where he is trampled to death. After Simba finds Mufasa's body, Scar convinces him he was responsible for his father's death and advises Simba to flee the kingdom. As Simba leaves, Scar orders the hyenas to kill the cub, but Simba escapes. Scar announces to the other lions that both Mufasa and Simba were killed in the stampede and steps forward as the new king, allowing a pack of hyenas to live in the Pride Lands.
After running far away, Simba collapses from exhaustion in a desert. Timon and Pumbaa, a meerkat and a warthog, find him and nurse him back to health. Simba subsequently grows up with them in the jungle, living a carefree life with his friends under the motto "hakuna matata" ("no worries"). When he is a young adult, Simba rescues Timon and Pumbaa from a hungry lioness, who turns out to be Nala. She and Simba reconcile and fall in love. Nala urges Simba to return home, telling him the Pride Lands have become a wasteland with not enough food and water. Feeling guilty over his father's death, Simba refuses and storms off, leaving Nala disappointed and angry. As Simba enters the jungle, he encounters Mufasa's mandrill friend and advisor, Rafiki. Rafiki tells Simba that Mufasa is "alive" and takes him to a pond. There Simba is visited by the ghost of Mufasa in the sky, who tells him he must take his rightful place as the king of the Pride Lands. Simba realizes he can no longer run from his past and goes home. Nala, Timon, and Pumbaa join him, and agree to help him fight.
At the Pride Lands, Simba confronts Scar, who taunts Simba over his "part" in Mufasa's death. But when Scar pushes Simba to the edge of Pride Rock, he admits he himself killed Mufasa. Enraged, Simba roars back up and forces Scar to reveal the truth to the other lions. Timon, Pumbaa, Rafiki, Zazu, and the lionesses fend off the hyenas while Scar, attempting to escape, is cornered by Simba at the top of Pride Rock. Scar begs Simba for mercy, saying he is family and placing the blame on the hyenas. Simba says he does not believe Scar anymore but spares his life and commands him to forever leave the Pride Lands. Scar meekly walks past him, but then attacks his nephew. After a fierce battle, Simba throws his uncle off Pride Rock. Scar survives the fall, but is attacked and killed by the hyenas, who overheard his attempt to betray them.
With Scar and the hyenas gone, Simba ascends to the top of Pride Rock and takes over the kingdom as the rain falls again. Sometime later, with Pride Rock restored to its former glory, Simba looks down happily at his kingdom with Nala, Timon, and Pumbaa by his side; Rafiki presents Simba and Nala's newborn cub to the inhabitants of the Pride Lands, and the "circle of life" continues.
Voice cast
Main article: List of The Lion King characters

 

 A promotional image of the characters from the film. From left to right: Shenzi, Scar, Ed, Banzai, Rafiki, Young Simba, Mufasa, Young Nala, Sarabi, Zazu, Sarafina, Timon, and PumbaaMatthew Broderick as Simba, son of Mufasa and Sarabi, who grows up to become King of the Pride Lands. Joseph Williams provided adult Simba's singing voice. Mark Henn and Ruben A. Aquino respectively served as the supervising animators for young and adult Simba.[4] Jonathan Taylor Thomas voiced young Simba, while Jason Weaver provided the cub's singing voice.[4]
James Earl Jones as Mufasa, Simba's father, King of the Pride Lands as the film begins. Tony Fucile served as the supervising animator for Mufasa.[4]
Jeremy Irons as Scar, Mufasa's younger brother and Simba's uncle, who usurps the throne. Andreas Deja served as the supervising animator for Scar.[4]
Moira Kelly as Nala, Simba's best friend and later his wife. Sally Dworsky provided her singing voice. Aaron Blaise and Anthony de Rosa respectively served as the supervising animators for young and adult Nala.[4] Niketa Calame provided the voice of young Nala while Laura Williams provided her singing voice.[4]
Nathan Lane as Timon, a wise-cracking and self-absorbed meerkat. Michael Surrey served as his supervising animator.[4]
Ernie Sabella as Pumbaa, a naive warthog who suffers from flatulence and is Timon's best friend. Tony Bancroft served as his supervising animator.[4]
Robert Guillaume as Rafiki, a wise old mandrill (although, while counseling Simba, he jokes that "you are a baboon, and I am not") who serves as shaman of the Pride Lands and presents newborn cubs of the King and Queen to the animals of the Pride Lands. James Baxter served as the supervising animator for Rafiki.[4]
Rowan Atkinson as Zazu, a hornbill who serves as the king's majordomo (or "Mufasa's little stooge", as Shenzi calls him). Ellen Woodbury served as the supervising animator for Zazu.[4]
Madge Sinclair as Sarabi, Mufasa's mate, Simba's mother, and the leader of the lioness hunting party. Russ Edmonds served as the supervising animator for Sarabi.[4]
The three hyenas who serve Scar were animated by Alex Kupershmidt and David Burgess.[4] Whoopi Goldberg as Shenzi, the sassy and short-tempered female leader of the trio.
Cheech Marin as Banzai, an aggressive and hot-headed hyena prone to complaining and acting on impulse.
Jim Cummings as Ed, a dim-witted hyena who does not talk, only communicating through laughter. Cummings also voiced a gopher that talks with Zazu and replaced Irons as Scar in certain lines of "Be Prepared" after Irons blew his voice.[5]
Zoe Leader as Sarafina, Nala's mother, who is shown briefly talking to Simba's mother, Sarabi.
Production
Development
The idea for The Lion King was conceived in late 1988 during a conversation between Jeffrey Katzenberg, Roy E. Disney and Peter Schneider on a plane to Europe to promote Oliver & Company. During the conversation, the topic of a story set in Africa came up, and Katzenberg immediately jumped at the idea.[6] The idea was then developed by Walt Disney Feature Animation's vice president for creative affairs Charlie Fink.[7] Katzenberg decided to add elements involving coming of age and death, and ideas from personal life experiences, such as some of his trials in his bumpy road in politics, saying about the film, "It is a little bit about myself."[8] In November of that year Thomas Disch (author of The Brave Little Toaster) wrote a treatment entitled King of the Kalahari,[9] and afterwards Linda Woolverton spent a year writing drafts of the script, which was titled King of the Beasts and then King of the Jungle.[7] The original version of the film was very different from the final film. The plot was centered in a battle being between lions and baboons with Scar being the leader of the baboons, Rafiki being a cheetah,[8] and Timon and Pumbaa being Simba's childhood friends.[10] Simba would also not leave the kingdom, but become a "lazy, slovenly, horrible character" due to manipulations from Scar, so Simba could be overthrown after coming of age. By 1990, producer Thomas Schumacher, who had just completed The Rescuers Down Under, decided to attach himself to the project "because lions are cool".[7] Schumacher likened the script for King of the Jungle to "an animated National Geographic special".[11]
Oliver & Company director George Scribner was the initial director of the film,[12] being later joined by Roger Allers, who was the lead story man on Beauty and the Beast in October 1991.[6] Allers brought with him Brenda Chapman, who would become the head of story.[7] Afterwards, several of the lead crew members, including Allers, Scribner, Hahn, Chapman, and production designer Chris Sanders, took a trip to Hell's Gate National Park in Kenya, in order to study and gain an appreciation of the environment for the film.[13] After six months of story development work Scribner decided to leave the project, as he clashed with Allers and the producers on their decision to turn the film into a musical, as Scribner's intention was of making a documentary-like film more focused on natural aspects.[6][14] Rob Minkoff replaced Scribner,[13] and producer Don Hahn joined the production as Schumacher became only an executive producer due to Disney promoting him to Vice President of Development for Feature Animation.[11] Hahn found the script unfocused and lacking a clear theme, and after establishing the main theme as "leaving childhood and facing up to the realities of the world", asked for a final retool. Allers, Minkoff, Chapman and Hahn then rewrote the story across two weeks of meetings with directors Kirk Wise and Gary Trousdale, who had just finished Beauty and the Beast.[13] The script also had its title changed from King of the Jungle to The Lion King, as the setting was not the jungle but the savannah.[6]
The Lion King was the first Disney animated feature to be an original story, rather than being based on an already-existing work. The filmmakers have said that the story of The Lion King was inspired by the Joseph and Moses stories from the Bible and William Shakespeare's Hamlet.[15] During the summer of 1992, the team was joined by screenwriter Irene Mecchi, with a second screenwriter, Jonathan Roberts, joining a few months later. Mecchi and Roberts took charge of the revision process, fixing unresolved emotional issues in the script and adding comic business for Pumbaa, Timon and the hyenas.[4] Lyricist Tim Rice worked closely with the writing team, flying to California at least once a month, as his songs needed to work in the narrative continuity. Rice's lyrics – which were reworked up to the production's end – were even pinned to the storyboards during development.[13] Rewrites were frequent, with animator Andreas Deja saying that completed scenes would be delivered only for the response to be that parts needed to be reanimated due to dialog changes.[7]
Casting
The voice actors were chosen for how they fit and could add to the characters – for instance, James Earl Jones was cast because the directors found his voice "powerful" and similar to a lion's roar.[16] Jones commented that during the years of production, Mufasa "became more and more of a dopey dad instead of [a] grand king".[17] Nathan Lane originally auditioned for Zazu, and Ernie Sabella, for one of the hyenas. Upon meeting each other at the recording studio, the actors, who at the time both co-starred in Guys and Dolls, were asked to record together as hyenas. The directors laughed at their performance and decided to cast them as Timon and Pumbaa.[16][18] For the hyenas, the original intention was to reunite Cheech & Chong, but while Cheech Marin accepted to play Banzai, Tommy Chong was unavailable. Thus his role was changed into a female hyena, Shenzi, who was voiced by Whoopi Goldberg.[10] Matthew Broderick was cast as adult Simba early during production, and during the three years of voice acting only recorded with another actor once, and only discovered Moira Kelly voiced Nala at the premiere.[19] Jeremy Irons had at first refused the role due to not being comfortable going from the dramatic performance as Claus von Bülow in Reversal of Fortune to a comedic role. But once he came in, Irons' performance even inspired the writers to incorporate more of his acting as von Bülow - even adding one of that character's lines, "You have no idea" - and animator Andreas Deja to watch both Reversal of Fortune and Damage to pick up Irons' facial traits and tics.[17][20]
Animation



"The Lion King was considered a little movie because we were going to take some risks. The pitch for the story was a lion cub gets framed for murder by his uncle set to the music of Elton John. People said, 'What? Good luck with that.' But for some reason, the people who ended up on the movie were highly passionate about it and motivated."
Don Hahn[18]
The development of The Lion King started concurrently with Pocahontas, which most of the animators of Walt Disney Feature Animation decided to work on instead, believing it would be the more prestigious and successful of the two.[15] The story artists also did not have much faith in the project, with Brenda Chapman declaring she was reluctant to accept the job "because the story wasn't very good",[7] and writer Burny Mattinson saying to co-worker Joe Ranft about the film that "I don't know who is going to want to watch that one."[14] Most of the leading animators were either doing their first major work supervising a character, or had much interest in animating an animal.[8] Thirteen of these supervising animators, both in California and Florida, were responsible for establishing the personalities and setting the tone for the film's main characters. The animation leads for the main characters included Mark Henn on young Simba, Ruben A. Aquino on adult Simba, Andreas Deja on Scar, Aaron Blaise on young Nala, Anthony DeRosa on adult Nala, and Tony Fucile on Mufasa.[4] Nearly 20 minutes of the film, including the "I Just Can't Wait to Be King" sequence,[10] were animated at the Disney-MGM Studios facility. Ultimately, more than 600 artists, animators and technicians contributed to The Lion King over the course of its production.[12] Weeks before the film was to be released, production was affected by the 1994 Northridge earthquake, which shut off the studio and required the animators to finish their work from home.[21]
The character animators studied real-life animals for reference, as was done for the 1942 Disney film Bambi. Jim Fowler, renowned wildlife expert, visited the studios on several occasions with an assortment of lions and other savannah inhabitants to discuss behavior and help the animators give their drawings an authentic feel.[13] The Pride Lands are modeled on the Kenyan national park visited by the crew. Varied focal lengths and lenses were employed to differ from the habitual portrayal of Africa in documentaries – which employ telephoto lenses to shoot the wildlife from a distance. The epic feel drew inspiration from concept studies by artist Hans Bacher – which, following Scribner's request for realism, tried to depict effects such as lens flare – and the works of painters Charles Marion Russell, Frederic Remington and Maxfield Parrish.[13][22] Since the characters were not anthropomorphized, all the animators had to learn to draw four-legged animals, and the story and character development was done through usage of longer shots following the characters.[10]
The use of computers helped the filmmakers present their vision in new ways. The most notable use of computer animation is in the "wildebeest stampede" sequence. Several distinct wildebeest characters were created in a 3D computer program, multiplied into hundreds, cel shaded to look like drawn animation, and given randomized paths down a mountainside to simulate the real, unpredictable movement of a herd. [23] Five specially trained animators and technicians spent more than two years creating the two-and-a-half minute stampede sequence.[4] Other usages of computer animation were done through CAPS, which helped simulate camera movements such as tracking shots, and was employed on the coloring, lighting and particle effects.[10]
Music
Main article: The Lion King (soundtrack)
Lyricist Tim Rice, who was working with composer Alan Menken on songs for Aladdin, was invited to write the songs, and accepted on the condition of finding a composing partner. As Menken was unavailable, the producers accepted Rice's suggestion of Elton John,[16] after Rice's invitation of ABBA fell through due to Benny Andersson being busy with the musical Kristina från Duvemåla.[8] John expressed an interest in writing "ultra-pop songs that kids would like; then adults can go and see those movies and get just as much pleasure out of them", mentioning a possible influence of The Jungle Book, where he felt the "music was so funny and appealed to kids and adults".[24]
John and Rice wrote five original songs for this film ("Circle of Life", "I Just Can't Wait to Be King", "Be Prepared", "Hakuna Matata" and "Can You Feel the Love Tonight") with the singer's performance of "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" playing over the end credits.[25] The IMAX and DVD releases added another song, "The Morning Report", which was based on a song discarded during development that eventually got featured in the live musical version of The Lion King.[26] The film's score was composed by Hans Zimmer, who was hired based on his work in two films in African settings, The Power of One and A World Apart,[13] and supplemented the score with traditional African music and choir elements arranged by Lebo M.[25] Zimmer's partners Mark Mancina and Jay Rifkin helped with arrangements and song production.[27]
The film's original motion picture soundtrack was released by Walt Disney Records on July 13, 1994. It was the fourth-best-selling album of the year on the Billboard 200 and the top-selling soundtrack.[28] It is the only soundtrack for an animated film to be certified Diamond (10× platinum) by the Recording Industry Association of America. Zimmer's complete instrumental score for the film was never originally given a full release by Disney, until the soundtrack's commemorative 20th anniversary re-release in 2014.[29] The Lion King also inspired the 1995 release Rhythm of the Pride Lands, with eight songs by Zimmer, Mancina, and Lebo M.[30]
The use of the song "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" in a scene with Timon and Pumbaa has led to disputes between Disney and the family of South African Solomon Linda, who composed the song (originally titled "Mbube") in 1939. In July 2004, the family filed suit, seeking $1.6 million in royalties from Disney. In February 2006, Linda's heirs reached a legal settlement with Abilene Music, who held the worldwide rights and had licensed the song to Disney for an undisclosed amount of money.[31]
Release
For The Lion King '​s first film trailer, Disney opted to for the first time feature a single scene, the entire opening sequence with the song "Circle of Life". Buena Vista Pictures Distribution president Dick Cook said the decision was made for such an approach because "we were all so taken by the beauty and majesty of this piece that we felt like it was probably one of the best four minutes of film that we've seen", and Don Hahn added that "Circle of Life" worked as a trailer as it "came off so strong, and so good, and ended with such a bang". The trailer was released in November 1993, accompanying The Three Musketeers in theaters, as only a third of The Lion King had been completed.[32][33] Audience reaction was enthusiastic, causing Hahn to have some initial concerns as he became afraid of not living up to the expectations raised by the preview.[32] Prior to the film's release, Disney did 11 test screenings.[34]
Upon release, The Lion King was accompanied by an extensive marketing campaign which included tie-ins with Burger King, Mattel, Kodak, Nestlé and Payless ShoeSource, and various merchandise,[35] accounting 186 licensed products.[36][37] In 1994, Disney earned approximately $1 billion with products based on the film,[38] with $214 million for Lion King toys during Christmas 1994 alone.[39]
Home media
The Lion King was first released on VHS and laserdisc in the United States on March 3, 1995, under Disney's "Masterpiece Collection" video series. In addition, Deluxe Editions of both formats were released. The VHS Deluxe Edition included the film, an exclusive lithograph of Rafiki and Simba (in some editions), a commemorative "Circle of Life" epigraph, six concept art lithographs, another tape with the half-hour TV show The Making of The Lion King, and a certificate of authenticity. The CAV laserdisc Deluxe Edition also contained the film, six concept art lithographs and The Making of The Lion King, and added storyboards, character design artwork, concept art, rough animation, and a directors' commentary that the VHS edition did not have, on a total of four double sided discs. The VHS tape quickly became the best-selling videotape of all time: 4.5 million tapes were sold on the first day[40] and ultimately sales totaled more than 30 million[41] before these home video versions went into moratorium in 1997.[42]
On October 7, 2003, the film was re-released on VHS and released on DVD for the first time, titled The Lion King: Platinum Edition, as part of Disney's Platinum Edition line of animated classic DVDs. The DVD release featured two versions of the film on the first disc, a remastered version created for the 2002 IMAX release and an edited version of the IMAX release purporting to be the original 1994 theatrical version.[43] A second disc, with bonus features, was also included in the DVD release. The film's soundtrack was provided both in its original Dolby 5.1 track and in a new Disney Enhanced Home Theater Mix, making this one of the first Disney DVDs so equipped.[44] By means of seamless branching, the film could be viewed either with or without a newly created scene – a short conversation in the film replaced with a complete song ("The Morning Report"). A Special Collector's Gift Set was also released, containing the DVD set, five exclusive lithographed character portraits (new sketches created and signed by the original character animators), and an introductory book entitled The Journey.[42] The Platinum Edition of The Lion King featured changes made to the film during its IMAX re-release, including re-drawn crocodiles in the "I Just Can't Wait to Be King" sequence as well as other alterations.[43] More than two million copies of the Platinum Edition DVD and VHS units were sold on the first day of release.[40] A DVD boxed set of the three The Lion King films (in two-disc Special Edition formats) was released on December 6, 2004. In January 2005, the film, along with the sequels, went back into moratorium.[45]
Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment released the Diamond Edition of The Lion King on October 4, 2011.[46] This marks the time that the film has been released in high-definition Blu-ray and on Blu-ray 3D.[46][47] The initial release was produced in three different packages: a two-disc version with Blu-ray and DVD; a four-disc version with Blu-ray, DVD, Blu-ray 3D, and digital copy; and an eight-disc box set that also includes the sequels The Lion King 2: Simba's Pride and The Lion King 1½.[46][47] A standalone single-disc DVD release also followed on November 15, 2011.[46] The Diamond Edition topped the Blu-ray charts with over 1.5 million copies sold.[48] The film sold 3.83 million Blu-ray units in total, leading to a $101.14 million income.[49]
Reception
Box office
The Lion King earned $422,783,777 in North America and an $564,700,000 in other territories for a worldwide total of $987,483,777.[3] It is the 20th highest-grossing film,[50] the third-highest-grossing animated film of all time worldwide and the second highest-grossing film of Walt Disney Animation Studios (behind Frozen).[51] The film was also the highest-grossing motion picture of 1994 worldwide.[52] After its initial run, having earned $768.6 million,[53] it ranked as the second-highest grossing film of all time worldwide, behind Jurassic Park .[54] It held the record for the highest-grossing animated feature film (in North America, outside North America, and worldwide) until it was surpassed by the computer animated Finding Nemo (2003), Shrek 2 (2004), Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (2009), Toy Story 3 (2010), and Frozen (2013). During its 3D re-release, The Lion King surpassed all the afomentioned films but Toy Story 3 to rank as the second-highest-grossing animated film worldwide - later downgraded to third after 2013's Frozen - and the highest-grossing hand-drawn animation.[55] It is also the biggest animated movie of the last 50 years in terms of estimated attendance.[56]
Original theatrical run
The Lion King had a limited release in North America on June 15, 1994, playing in only two theaters, El Capitan Theater in Los Angeles and Radio City Music Hall in New York City.[57] It still earned $1,586,753 across the weekend of June 17–19, standing at the tenth place of the box office ranking.[58] The average of $793,377 per theater stands as the largest ever achieved during a weekend.[59] The wide release followed on June 24, 1994, in 2,550 screens. The digital surround sound of the film led many of those theater to implement Dolby Laboratories' newest sound systems.[60] The Lion King grossed $40.9 million – which at the time was the fourth biggest opening weekend earning ever and the highest sum for a Disney film – to top the weekend box office.[12] It also earned a rare "A+" rating from CinemaScore.[61] By the end of its theatrical run, in spring 1995, it had earned $312,855,561,[3] being the second-highest-grossing 1994 film in North America behind Forrest Gump.[62] Outside North America, it earned $455.8 million during its initial run, for a worldwide total of $768.6 million.[53]
Re-releases
IMAX and large-format
The film was re-issued on December 25, 2002 for IMAX and large-format theaters. Don Hahn explained that eight years after The Lion King got its original release, "there was a whole new generation of kids who haven't really seen it, particularly on the big screen." Given the film had already been digitally archived during production, the restoration process was easier, while also providing many scenes with enhancements that covered up original deficiencies.[34][63] An enhanced sound mix was also provided, to as Hahn explained, "make the audience feel like they're in the middle of the movie."[34] On its first weekend, The Lion King made $2.7 million from 66 locations, a $27,664 per theater average. This run ended with $15,686,215 on May 30, 2003.[64]
3D conversion
In 2011, The Lion King was converted to 3D for a two-week limited theatrical re-issue and subsequent 3D Blu-ray release.[46][65] The film opened at the number one spot on Friday, September 16, 2011 with $8.9 million[66] and finished the weekend with $30.2 million, ranking number one at the box office. This made The Lion King the first re-issue release to earn the number-one slot at the American weekend box office since the re-issue of Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi in March 1997.[55] The film also achieved the fourth-highest September opening weekend of all time.[67] It held off very well on its second weekend, again earning first place at the box office with a 27% decline to $21.9 million.[68] Most box-office observers had expected the film to fall about 50% in its second weekend and were also expecting Moneyball to be at first place.[69]
After its initial box-office success, many theaters decided to continue to show the film for more than two weeks, even though its 3D Blu-ray release was scheduled for two-and-a-half weeks after its theatrical release.[68] In North America, the 3D re-release ended its run in theaters on January 12, 2012 with a gross $94,242,001. Outside North America, it earned $83,400,000.[70] The successful 3D re-release of The Lion King made Disney and Pixar plan 3D theatrical re-releases of Beauty and the Beast, Finding Nemo, Monsters, Inc., and The Little Mermaid during 2012 and 2013.[71] However, none of the re-releases of the first three films achieved the enormous success of The Lion King 3D and theatrical re-release of the The Little Mermaid was ultimately cancelled.[72] In 2012, Ray Subers of Box Office Mojo wrote that the reason why the 3D version of The Lion King succeeded was because, "the notion of a 3D re-release was still fresh and exciting, and The Lion King (3D) felt timely given the movie's imminent Blu-ray release. Audiences have been hit with three 3D re-releases in the year since, meaning the novelty value has definitely worn off."[73]
Critical response
The Lion King was released to critical acclaim. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a rating of 90%, based on 110 reviews, with an average rating of 8.2/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Emotionally stirring, richly drawn, and beautifully animated, The Lion King stands tall within Disney's pantheon of classic family films."[74] On Metacritic, the film has a score of 83 out of 100, based on 14 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".[75]
Roger Ebert gave it 3 1/2 out of 4-stars and called the film "a superbly drawn animated feature" and, in his print review wrote, "The saga of Simba, which in its deeply buried origins owes something to Greek tragedy and certainly to Hamlet, is a learning experience as well as an entertainment."[76] On the television program Siskel & Ebert, the film was praised but received a mixed reaction when compared to previous Disney films. Ebert and his partner Gene Siskel both gave the film a "Thumbs Up" but Siskel said that it was not as good as earlier films such as Beauty and the Beast and was "a good film, not a great one".[77] Hal Hinson of The Washington Post called it "an impressive, almost daunting achievement" and felt that the film was "spectacular in a manner that has nearly become commonplace with Disney's feature-length animations", but was less enthusiastic toward the end of his review saying, "Shakespearean in tone, epic in scope, it seems more appropriate for grown-ups than for kids. If truth be told, even for adults it is downright strange."[78]
Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly praised the film, writing that it "has the resonance to stand not just as a terrific cartoon but as an emotionally pungent movie".[79] Rolling Stone film critic Peter Travers praised the film and felt that it was "a hugely entertaining blend of music, fun and eye-popping thrills, though it doesn't lack for heart".[80] James Berardinelli from ReelViews praised the film saying, "With each new animated release, Disney seems to be expanding its already-broad horizons a little more. The Lion King is the most mature (in more than one sense) of these films, and there clearly has been a conscious effort to please adults as much as children. Happily, for those of us who generally stay far away from 'cartoons', they have succeeded."[81]
Some reviewers still had problems with the film's narrative. The staff of TV Guide wrote that while The Lion King was technically proeficient and entertaining, it "offers a less memorable song score than did the previous hits, and a hasty, unsatisfying dramatic resolution."[82] The New Yorker's Terrence Rafferty considered that despite the good animation, the story felt like "manipulat[ing] our responses at will", as "Between traumas, the movie serves up soothingly banal musical numbers and silly, rambunctious comedy".[83]
Accolades
The Lion King received four Golden Globe and Academy Award nominations. The film would go on to win two Golden Globes; for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy and Best Original Score,[84] as well as two Academy Awards, for Best Original Score (Hans Zimmer) and Best Original Song with "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" by Elton John and Tim Rice.[85] The songs "Circle of Life" and "Hakuna Matata" were also nominated.[85] "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" also won the Grammy Award for Best Male Vocal Performance.[86] The Lion King also won Annie Awards for Best Animated Feature, Best Achievement in Voice Acting (for Jeremy Irons) and Best Individual Achievement for Story Contribution in the Field of Animation.[87]
At the Saturn Awards, the film was nominated in two categories, Best Fantasy Film and Best Performance by a Younger Actor although it did not win in either category.[88] The film also received two nominations at the British Academy Film Awards, for Best Sound as well as the Anthony Asquith Award for Film Music although it lost in both categories to Speed and Backbeat respectively.[89] The film received two BMI Film & TV Awards for Film Music and Most Performed Song with "Can You Feel the Love Tonight."[90] At the 1995 MTV Movie Awards the film received nominations for Best Villain and Best Song, though it lost in both categories.[91] The Lion King won the Kids' Choice Award for Favorite Movie at the 1995 Kids' Choice Awards.[92]
In 2008, The Lion King was ranked as the 319th greatest film ever made by Empire magazine,[93] and in June 2011, TIME named it one of "The 25 All-TIME Best Animated Films".[94] In June 2008, the American Film Institute listed The Lion King as the fourth best film in the animation genre in its AFI's 10 Top 10 list,[95] having previously put "Hakuna Matata" as 99th on its AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs ranking.[96]
Controversies
Certain elements of the film were considered to bear a resemblance to a famous 1960s Japanese anime television show, Jungle Emperor (Kimba the White Lion), with characters having analogues, and various individual scenes being nearly identical in composition and camera angle. Matthew Broderick believed initially that he was in fact working on a remake of Kimba, since he was familiar with the Japanese original.[97] Disney's official stance is that the similarities are all coincidental.[98] Yoshihiro Shimizu, of Tezuka Productions, which created Kimba the White Lion, has refuted rumours that the studio was paid hush money by Disney but explains that they rejected urges from within the industry to sue because, "we're a small, weak company. It wouldn't be worth it anyway ... Disney's lawyers are among the top twenty in the world!"[99]

Simba lays down on a cliff, while the airborne dust next to him resembles the shape "SFX".

 The alleged "SEX" frame.
Protests were raised against one scene where it appears as if the word "SEX" might have been embedded into the dust flying in the sky when Simba flops down,[100] which conservative activist Donald Wildmon asserted was a subliminal message intended to promote sexual promiscuity. The film's animators have stated that the letters spell "SFX" (a common abbreviation of "special effects"), and was intended as an innocent "signature" created by the effects animation team.[101]
Hyena biologists protested against the animal's portrayal: one hyena researcher sued Disney studios for defamation of character,[102] and another—who had organized the animators' visit to the University of California's Field Station for Behavioural Research, where they would observe and sketch captive hyenas—[103] included boycotting The Lion King among the ways it would help preserve hyenas in the wild.[104] The hyenas have also been interpreted to represent an anti-immigrant allegory, where the hyenas would be black and Latino ethnic communities.[105][106][107][108]
Legacy
Sequels and spin-offs
The first Lion King-related animated projects involved the characters of Timon and Pumbaa. First the duo starred in the animated short "Stand by Me", featuring Timon singing the eponymous song, which was released in 1995 accompanying the theatrical release of Tom and Huck. Then the duo received their own animated show, The Lion King's Timon and Pumbaa, which ran for three seasons and 85 episodes between 1995 and 1999. Ernie Sabella continued to voice Pumbaa, while Timon was voiced by Quinton Flynn and Kevin Schon in addition to Nathan Lane himself.[109]
Disney released two direct-to-video films related to The Lion King. The first was sequel The Lion King II: Simba's Pride, issued in 1998 on VHS. The film centers around Simba and Nala's daughter, Kiara, who falls in love with Kovu, a male lion who was raised in a pride of Scar's followers, the Outsiders.[110] 2004 saw the release of another Lion King film on DVD, The Lion King 1½. It is a prequel in showing how Timon and Pumbaa met each other, and also a parallel in that it also depicts what the characters were retconned to have done during the events of the original movie.[111]
In June 2014, it was announced that a new TV series based on the film will be released called The Lion Guard and it will feature Kion, the son of Simba. It will be broadcast on Disney Junior first as a television film on November 2015 before episodes broadcast in January 2016.[112]
Video games
Main article: The Lion King (video game)
Along with the film release, three different video games based on The Lion King were released by Virgin Interactive on December 1994. The main title was developed by Westwood Studios, and published for PC and Amiga computers and the consoles SNES and Sega Mega Drive/Genesis. Dark Technologies created the Game Boy version, while Syrox Developments handled the Master System and Game Gear version.[113] The film and sequel Simba's Pride later inspired another game, Torus Games' The Lion King: Simba's Mighty Adventure (2000) for the Game Boy Color and PlayStation.[114] Timon and Pumbaa also appeared in Timon & Pumbaa's Jungle Games, a 1995 PC game collection of puzzle games by 7th Level, later ported to the SNES by Tiertex.[115]
The Square Enix series Kingdom Hearts features Simba as a recurring summon,[116][117] as well as a playable in the Lion King world, known as Pride Lands, in Kingdom Hearts II. There the plotline is loosely related to the later part of the original film, with all of the main characters except Zazu and Sarabi.[118] The Lion King also provides one of the worlds featured in the 2011 action-adventure game Disney Universe,[119] and Simba was featured in the Nintendo DS title Disney Friends (2008).[120]
Stage adaptations
Main article: The Lion King (musical)

The façade of Minskoff Theatre at Broadway, with banners promoting the Lion King musical.

 Advertisements for the musical adaptation of The Lion King at Minskoff Theatre.
Walt Disney Theatrical produced a musical stage adaptation of the same name, which premiered in Minneapolis, Minnesota in July 1997, and later opened on Broadway in October 1997 at the New Amsterdam Theatre. The Lion King musical was directed by Julie Taymor and featured songs from both the movie and Rhythm of the Pride Lands, along with three new compositions by Elton John and Tim Rice. Mark Mancina did the musical arrangements and new orchestral tracks.[121] The musical became one of the most successful in Broadway history, winning six Tony Awards including Best Musical, and despite moving to the Minskoff Theatre in 2006, is still running to this day in New York, becoming the fourth longest-running show and highest grossing Broadway production in history. The show's financial success led to adaptations all over the world.[11][122][123]
The Lion King inspired two attractions retelling the story of the film at Walt Disney Parks and Resorts. The first, "The Legend of the Lion King", featured a recreation of the film through life size puppets of its characters, and ran from 1994 to 2002 at Magic Kingdom in Walt Disney World.[124] Another that is still running is the live-action 30-minute musical revue of the movie, "Festival of the Lion King", which incorporates the musical numbers into gymnastic routines with live actors, along with animatronic puppets of Simba and Pumba and a costumed actor as Timon. The attraction opened in April 1998 at Disney World's Animal Kingdom,[125] and in September 2005 in Hong Kong Disneyland's Adventureland.[126] A similar version under the name "The Legend of the Lion King" was featured in Disneyland Paris from 2004 to 2009.[127][128]

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