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For the theatrical musical, see The Lion King (musical).

The Lion King is the 32nd animated feature in the Disney animated feature canon, and the highest-grossing traditionally animated feature film ever released in the United States. It was produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation, originally released to selected cities by Walt Disney Pictures and Buena Vista Distribution on June 15, 1994, and put into general release on June 24, 1994. A digitally retouched and enhanced Special Edition version of the film was released in IMAX format on December 25, 2002.

The film is about a young lion cub named Simba who learns about his place on the throne of Pride Rock and his role in the circle of life. It is frequently alleged that The Lion King was based on Osamu Tezuka's 1960s animated series Kimba the White Lion, although the filmmakers deny this. The filmmakers do, however, acknowledge the prominent influences of the Shakespeare play Hamlet, the Bible stories of Joseph and Moses, and the 1942 Disney animated feature Bambi.

Unlike previous Disney animated films which featured only a select few famous voice actors alongside lesser-known performers, nearly all of the voice acting work for this film was done by well-known actors, including Matthew Broderick, James Earl Jones, Jeremy Irons, Jonathan Taylor Thomas, Nathan Lane, Ernie Sabella, Robert Guillaume, Moira Kelly, Rowan Atkinson, Whoopi Goldberg, Cheech Marin and Jim Cummings. The Lion King is a musical film, with songs written by composer Elton John and lyricist Tim Rice and a film score by Hans Zimmer. Many of the John/Rice tunes became Disney standards or pop hits in their own right and Zimmer's score also drew substantial praise.

About the film

To many, The Lion King represents the peak of the late 1980s to mid-1990s Disney Renaissance in animation. This Renaissance featured a return to traditional Disney standard storytelling modes and motifs, a reliance on ever-expanding filmmaking technology, and a strong influence of musical theater.

During its production, The Lion King was considered a secondary project to Pocahontas, which was in production at the same time. Many of the Disney Feature Animation staffers preferred to work on Pocahontas, thinking that film would be the more prestigious and successful of the two. However, as the film was being marketed, the studio noticed that the released teaser, which consisted of the entire opening sequence featuring the song, "Circle of Life", was getting a strongly enthusiastic reaction from audiences. Furthermore, when the film was in limited release in two major theatres, the film did very impressive business which suggested that this "secondary project" promised to be popular. Upon general release, the film more than confirmed that suspicion by becoming the most successful film of the year and the most successful animated feature film ever at the time (though with inflation factored in it would be fourth). The film made $328,541,776 in domestic gross income and $783,841,776 worldwide. With hindsight, the film can be seen as marking the peak of the popular success of the late-80s-to-mid-90s "renaissance" of Disney animation.

The Lion King, though a very humanistic story, remains the only Disney film to lack any trace of human existence. Robin Hood featured only anthropomorphic animals who lived like humans, while Bambi featured only unseen human characters; whether this makes The Lion King Walt Disney's first "non-human animals-only" film is open to interpretation, but it is one film that is free of "human elements". The film was also the first Disney animated feature to have a non-villain main character die on-screen. In Bambi, someone close to the hero was shot off-screen and was not seen afterwards; whereas in The Lion King, the hero's father is killed on-screen and his dead body is later shown.

The film's significant use of computers helped the filmmakers to present their vision in new, visually impressive ways. The most notable use of computer animation is in the famous "wildebeest stampede" sequence. Several distinct wildebeest characters were built in a 3D computer program, multiplied into the 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. Computers also aided in the implementation of a classic Disney animation technique called "multiplaning" that was prominently featured in Bambi.

Elton John and Tim Rice wrote five original songs for this film. John performs "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" during the end credits. However, the major musical praise focused on Hans Zimmer's score which was supplemented with traditional African music and choir elements arranged by Lebo M. Many critics felt this played a crucial role in establishing the grand mythic tone of the African story.

With six major musical numbers (including a repeated "Circle of Life" at film's beginning and end), The Lion King is heavily influenced by American musical theater. The film's look changes drastically from the "realistic" world of the drama to the stylized world of the musical numbers. For instance, the "I Just Can't Wait to Be King" number transitions from a background of natural savanna to abstract blue and pink African tribal patterns the instant the singing begins - but the scene transitions just as quickly back out of it when the music ends. Also, in the "Hakuna Matata" number, the characters sing in a jungle surrounding lit by spotlights that follow them from the sky.

The film is also perhaps one of the most violent and mature Disney animated films, with themes such as responsibility, betrayal, treason and regicide. There are a couple of deaths which may frighten younger viewers, although no blood is shown. Nevertheless, the film was rated worldwide as suitable for all ages.

The film was re-released in giant-screen IMAX theaters on December 25, 2002, with digital enhancements made to it. However, like the IMAX release of Beauty and the Beast the year before, it did not do as well as expected, and future IMAX release plans of films like Aladdin and The Little Mermaid were cancelled.

Plot synopsis

At the beginning of the film, Mufasa, the King of the Pride Lands, and his wife Queen Sarabi, have just given birth to their child Simba. In a large-scale ceremony at the lion's residence Pride Rock, Simba is presented to the animals of the Pride Lands by Rafiki, the wise witch doctor mandrill , from atop the Rock. Later that day, Mufasa confronts his younger brother, Scar, and questions his absence from the ceremony. Although claiming he forgot, Scar is actually jealous of his new-born nephew being heir to the throne; he believes he should be king.

Time passes and Simba has grown into an extremely playful and active cub. One day, Scar lures him to the Elephant Graveyard, the forbidden land that Mufasa had warned Simba not to go to. Unable to overcome his curiosity, the young cub goes there with his best friend, Nala (a female lion cub), and the majordomo hornbill Zazu, but they encounter three hyenas, Shenzi, Banzai and Ed, who try to kill them. Luckily, Mufasa comes to the rescue and scares off the hyenas.

From that point it is revealed that Scar had been plotting with the hyenas to kill Simba. After this failed attempt, however, Scar decides to get rid of both Mufasa and his son once and for all. Together with his hyenas, he engineers a wildebeest stampede in which Mufasa rescues Simba from, but he himself is lost in the stampede. In the midst of the stampede, Mufasa makes one last great leap to cling to the rock face. As he climbs higher, he looks up to see Scar standing on the ledge above him. Mufasa pleads to Scar for help, who gazes down on his brother and then suddenly latches his sharp claws into Mufasa's paws. Scar throws Mufasa from the ledge after saying the mocking words, "Long live the king." Mufasa is crushed under the hooves of the wildebeest. Scar tricks Simba into thinking he is responsible for his father's death by causing the stampede (just prior to the event, Scar had advised Simba to "work on that little roar" of his, and one particularly loud noise Simba made actually seemed to trigger the stampede) and advises him to "run away and never return." As a sobbing, devastated Simba runs off, Scar orders his hyena henchmen to kill Simba. In the chase that follows, Simba escapes the hyenas into the desert and his pursuers, fearing Scar's wrath while confident that the cub cannot survive in that wilderness, plan to lie to him and say they killed the young prince. Scar accepts the story, and assumes the throne, becoming the King.

Exhausted, Simba collapses in the desert and almost dies. However, the cub is saved and befriended by Timon and Pumbaa (a meerkat and warthog respectively), who teach Simba their philosophy of "hakuna matata" (no worries). After growing up with the pair, the adult Simba encounters his childhood friend, Nala, who has also reached adulthood, and has fled Scar's dictatorial rule to seek help. She urges Simba to return to the Pride Lands and take his rightful place as King, but Simba refuses, happy with his new "no worries" lifestyle -- and still traumatized by the false belief that he caused his father's death. Although the pair have fallen in love, they part: Nala angry with what she sees as Simba's irresponsibility, and Simba angry with Nala for scorning him while still in fear of revealing his true reasons.

Alone, Simba broods about his guilt-ridden loneliness that boils up into a despairing wail to the silent stars. However, help for Simba comes in the form of Rafiki, who claims that Mufasa is still alive. The shaman leads Simba to a pond that reveals that Mufasa's spirit still lives on inside Simba. At that revelation, the spirit of Mufasa appears in towering storm clouds. He demands Simba to look inside himself and understand that he is the rightful King, that "you are more than what you have become." After Mufasa departs, Rafiki advises Simba in a particularly memorable moment. Hitting the young lion on the head with his stick, the mandrill says that while the past does hurt, one can either run from or learn from it. Inspired, Simba decides to go back home to Rafiki's triumphant delight.

When he arrives, Simba is incensed to find that his once joyful and prosperous kingdom has crumbled into a barren wasteland under King Scar's rule. With the support of Nala who rallies the lionesses while Timon and Pumbaa lure the hyenas away on Simba's orders, the young lion confronts his uncle. Scar remains confident and with his hyenas he forces Simba to confess to his (perceived) responsibility for the death of Mufasa. Then Scar backs Simba to the edge of the cliff as lightning strikes a dead tree and sets the Pride Lands ablaze. Simba slips and hangs onto the edge of Pride Rock, similar to Mufasa's situation before his death. Scar recalls this scene, and latches into Simba's paws with his claws. He then sadistically whispers the awful truth to Simba: that it was he, Scar, who killed Mufasa. Simba, enraged at the truth of the murder and how he was played a fool in it, leaps upon Scar and forces the tyrant to publicly confess to his crime.

The battle begins, and as the lionesses (along with Timon, Pumbaa, Rafiki and Zazu) and hyenas fight, Simba chases Scar up to the summit. Scar attempts to blame everything on the hyenas (who hear this to their outrage); Simba shows mercy and tells Scar to run away from the kingdom and never return. Scar remembers those words; they were the exact words that he used to manipulate Simba after Mufasa died. Scar begins to slink off, only to scatter some burning embers into Simba's face, distracting him. Scar takes advantage of this and attacks Simba once again.

There is a climactic battle and Simba is thrown to the edge of the cliff. Scar jumps through the flames to finish Simba off, but it is Simba, displaying his calm calculating nature again, who throws his uncle over the cliff edge (making use of a move which Nala had used on him previously). Scar survives the fall, but encounters the hyenas, who are enraged that he called them "the enemy". They surround a pleading Scar and kill him. The hyenas are never seen later on; they either ran away from the Pride Lands or were engulfed by the fire.

Shortly thereafter, rain begins to fall, extinguishing the fire and cleansing the earth. In the movie's denouement, Simba ascends Pride Rock, becoming the true King, and leads the Pride Lands back into times of prosperity and glory. In the ending moments of the film, Simba and Nala's cub is presented by Rafiki in a triumphant ceremony mirroring the film's beginning.

Voice cast

Actor Role(s)
Matthew Broderick Simba
James Earl Jones Mufasa
Jeremy Irons Scar
Jonathan Taylor Thomas Young Simba
Nathan Lane Timon
Ernie Sabella Pumbaa
Robert Guillaume Rafiki
Moira Kelly Nala
Rowan Atkinson Zazu
Whoopi Goldberg Shenzi
Cheech Marin Banzai
Jim Cummings Ed
The Mole Grant, John. Encyclopedia of Walt Disney's Animated Characters - Encyclopedia, 3rd edition hardcover. New York City: Hyperion Books, 1998. ISBN 0-7868-6336-6
Madge Sinclair Sarabi
Niketa Calame Young Nala
Zoe Leader Sarafina

Singing voices

Singer Role
Jason Weaver
Evan Saucedo (The Morning Report) 		Young Simba
Joseph Williams Simba
Laura Williams Young Nala
Sally Dworsky Nala
Jeff Bennett Zazu (The Morning Report)
Jim Cummings Scar (last part of Be Prepared)

Supervising animators

Animator Character(s)
Ruben A. Aquino Simba
Tony Fucile Mufasa
Andreas Deja Scar
Mark Henn Young Simba
Michael Surrey Timon
Tony Bancroft Pumbaa
James Baxter Rafiki
Anthony DeRosa Nala
Ellen Woodbury Zazu
David Burgess
Alex Kupershmidt 		Shenzi
Banzai
Ed
Russ Edmonds Sarabi
Aaron Blaise Young Nala

Characters

  • Simba - The future ruler of the Pride Lands and son of Mufasa. The word simba in the Swahili language means "lion". The character of Simba and also of his father, Mufasa, were modeled after two real lions that lived in Miami Metro Zoo in Miami, Florida.
  • Mufasa - King of the Pride Lands, father of Simba and mate of Sarabi. A wise and fair ruler, who understands and rules according to The Circle of Life. Mufasa was reportedly the name of the last king of the Bagada people, who were dispersed during the British colonization of Kenya.
  • Scar - Brother of Mufasa and Simba's uncle. The primary villain of the movie, Scar aspires to become king by overthrowing Mufasa and Simba.
  • Timon - Comical meerkat who is best friends with warthog Pumbaa. They adopt and raise Simba under the philosophy of "Hakuna Matata" (Swahili for "no worries"). A real meerkat at the Fellow Earthlings Wildlife Center, Inc. near Palm Springs, California was the inspiration for the movie Timon, and was his namesake.
  • Pumbaa - Clumsy warthog who adopts Simba with Timon. Pumbaa means "simpleton" in Swahili.
  • Rafiki - A wise old shaman mandrill (incorrectly referred to as a baboon in the film) and Simba's spiritual guide. His name is Swahili for "friend". Rafiki's tree is a baobab tree; baobab trees are occasionally known colloquially as "monkey-bread trees".
  • Nala - Childhood friend and future mate of Simba (Swahili for "gift"). According to co-director Rob Minkoff, speaking in 2004, the general assumption during production was that Nala was the offspring of either Scar or Mufasa. The film never specifies this, due to the incest taboo, though it is consistent with the real-life behavior of lions.
  • Zazu - A pompous hornbill who is King Mufasa's majordomo (advisor).
  • Shenzi, Banzai and Ed - Three hyenas who assist Scar. Shenzi is Swahili for "uncouth"; banzai means "skulk" or "lurk."
  • Sarabi - Mother of Simba and Mufasa's mate (Swahili for "mirage").
  • Sarafina - Mother of Nala. She appears very briefly in the film and only speaks one line.

Sequels and spin-offs

Sequels and spin-offs were inevitable after The Lion King's huge success. The first of these was a 70mm spin-off film called An Environmental Fable, which promoted environmental friendliness and shown in the Harvest Theater in The Land Pavilion at Epcot in Walt Disney World in 1995. Also debuted in 1995 was a spin-off television series called Timon and Pumbaa which focused on the titular meerkat and warthog duo. The TV series implied that the story took place during the mid-20th century through the appearance of humans and technology. Next, a direct-to-video sequel called Simba's Pride was released in 1998, focusing on Simba's daughter Kiara. Finally, a direct-to-video prequel/midquel, The Lion King 1½ (also known as The Lion King 3: Hakuna Matata), was released in 2004 and takes place in a parallel timeline that interweaves with the original Lion King, but from Timon and Pumbaa's perspective.

Home video

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. The VHS tape quickly became one of the best-selling videotapes of all time: 4.5 million tapes were sold on the first day. 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 litographs and The Making of The Lion King, but included storyboards, character design artwork, concept art, rough animation, and a directors' commentary that the VHS edition didn't. These home video versions of The Lion King all went into moratorium in 1997.

On October 7, 2003, the film was re-released on VHS and released to DVD for the first time as The Lion King: Platinum Edition, as part of Disney's Platinum Edition line of animated classic DVDs. The DVD release featured a remastered version of the film created for the 2002 IMAX release, and a second disc with bonus features. The film's soundtrack was available in its original Dolby 5.1 track or in a new Disney Enhanced Home Theater Mix. By means of seamless branching, the movie could be viewed either with or without a newly-created scene - a short conversation in the movie replaced with a complete song, "The Morning Report", which was originally written for the stage musical of the film. A Special Collector's Gift Set was also released, with 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 in a black box. More than two million copies of the Platinum Edition DVD and VHS units were sold on the first day of release. 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 went back into moratorium.

However, this Platinum Edition of The Lion King was criticized by fans mainly for its false advertising – producer Don Hahn claimed that the film would be in its original 1994 theatrical version earlier, but it ended up being the "digitally enhanced" IMAX version (see here for differences between the two versions). The DVD release was criticized for its hard-to-navigate system of the bonus disc, its shallow extras and not including the Making of the Lion King show. Still, it was praised for its brilliantly restored picture and sound. The DVD was also the first to include an optional Disney Enhanced Home Theater Mix for the film's soundtrack, and received great response from consumers. Disney has since included this enhanced mix in its major DVD titles such as Aladdin, Mary Poppins, Bambi and Cinderella.

Soundtrack and other albums

Aside from the songs by Elton John and Tim Rice, the instrumental music was composed by Hans Zimmer with additional material arranged by Lebo M.

Original motion picture soundtrack

The film's original motion picture soundtrack was released on July 13 1994. The original United States version of the CD had the following tracks:
  1. "Circle of Life" - Carmen Twillie
  2. "I Just Can't Wait to Be King" - Jason Weaver, Rowan Atkinson, Laura Williams
  3. "Be Prepared" - Jeremy Irons, Whoopi Goldberg, Cheech Marin, Jim Cummings
  4. "Hakuna Matata" - Nathan Lane, Ernie Sabella, Jason Weaver, Joseph Williams
  5. "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" - Joseph Williams, Sally Dworsky, Nathan Lane, Ernie Sabella, Kristle Edwards
  6. "This Land" (Instrumental)
  7. "...To Die For" (Instrumental)
  8. "Under the Stars" (Instrumental)
  9. "King of Pride Rock" (Instrumental)
  10. "Circle of Life" - Elton John
  11. "I Just Can't Wait to Be King" - Elton John
  12. "Can You Feel the Love Tonight (End Title)" - Elton John

In most international releases of the CD, Elton John's versions were removed except for "Can You Feel the Love Tonight (End Title)", and an additional track, "Hyenas" (Instrumental), was included.

On September 30, 2003, Disney released a Special Edition of the soundtrack with two newly-added tracks:

The soundtrack had managed to ship over 10 million copies and eventually went 10x Platinum in 1995.

Rhythm of the Pride Lands

On 28 February 1995, Disney released an album entitled Rhythm of the Pride Lands, a "sequel" to the original soundtrack which featured songs and performances inspired by, but not featured in the film. 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. Several songs featured in the album would later have incarnations in other Lion King-oriented projects, such as the stage musical or the direct-to-video sequels.

The initial release of the album included the following tracks:

  1. "He Lives in You"- Lebo M - ()
  2. "Hakuna Matata" - Jimmy Cliff, Lebo M
  3. "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" - Lebo M
  4. "Kube" - Lebo M
  5. "Lea Halalela (Holy Land)" - Khululiwe Sithole - ()
  6. "It's Time" - Lebo M
  7. "One By One" - Lebo M
  8. "Warthog Rhapsody" - Nathan Lane, Ernie Sabella
  9. "Lala" - Lebo M - ()
  10. "Busa" - Lebo M
  11. "Noyana" - Luyanda Jezile, Wendy Mseleku, Max Ngcobo, Lebo M

Rhythm of the Pride Lands was initially printed in a very limited quantity and therefore has since become a collector's item. However, it was re-released in 2003, included in some international versions of The Lion King's special edition soundtrack with an additional track:

  • 01. "Circle of Life" - The Disney Channel Circle of Stars

The Lion King Complete Score

The official soundtrack released by Disney contained very little of Hans Zimmer's instrumental score. The tracks included were pieced together from various parts of the film and therefore not entirely representative of the scenes linked to them. Relatively recently a bootleg CD containing all of the missing score has been released, with many of the tracks recorded at a slower rate than normal, in monaural, and/or not ordered correctly with their appearance in the film.

The CD is titled The Lion King Complete Score or Lion King Expanded Score and was first mentioned on Hans-Zimmer.com. The CD itself is difficult to obtain, but it has been sighted on eBay.

Awards

Academy Awards

Award Recipient
Best Music, Original Score Hans Zimmer
Best Music, Original Song ("Can You Feel the Love Tonight") Elton John
Tim Rice
Nominated:
Best Music, Original Song ("Circle of Life") Elton John
Tim Rice
Best Music, Original Song ("Hakuna Matata") Elton John
Tim Rice

Golden Globe Awards

Award Recipient
Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy Don Hahn
Best Original Score Hans Zimmer
Best Original Song ("Can You Feel the Love Tonight") Elton John
Tim Rice
Nominated:
Best Original Song ("Circle of Life") Elton John
Tim Rice

Musical

The movie was also adapted into an award-winning Broadway stage musical with the same title, directed by Julie Taymor, and featured actors in animal costumes as well as giant, hollow puppets. After the stage show first opened on July 31, 1997 in Minneapolis at the Orpheum Theatre, it was an instant and tremendous success. It moved permanently to the New Amsterdam Theater on Broadway in New York City that October. A version later opened in London and another in Toronto, playing there until January 2004. On June 13, 2006, the Broadway production moved to the Minskoff Theatre to make way for the musical version of Mary Poppins.

Controversies

Story origin

The Lion King was claimed to be the first animated Disney movie to not be based on an already-existing story, although the accuracy of this has become disputed. The Lion King bears a striking resemblance to a famous Japanese anime television show, Kimba the White Lion, and claims have been made that The Lion King was inspired by it. Starting with the protagonist's name (Kimba/Simba), most characters in Kimba have an analogue in The Lion King, and various individual scenes are nearly identical in composition and camera angle. Disney's official stance is that any resemblance is coincidental, and the directors Roger Allers and Rob Minkoff claim they were well into the development process before the Kimba similarity was identified. The family of Osamu Tezuka, Kimba's creator, has not filed suit against Disney. For further details, see Kimba The White Lion controversy.

The filmmakers, however, admitted that the story of The Lion King was inspired by the 1942 Disney animated film Bambi, Joseph the Dreamer and Exodus from the Bible, and [[William Shakespeare]]'s Hamlet. In fact, Christopher Vogler, in his book Mythic Structure For Writers described how Disney approached him with a copy of Hamlet asking how to improve the plot of The Lion King by incorporating ideas from Shakespeare. Relationship between the two plots includes: The brother to the king (Scar to Mufasa; Claudius to King Hamlet) kills the king (this occurs before the play Hamlet begins). The rightful heir does not avenge his father's death (Simba to Hamlet). Later, at the urging of his father's ghost, the prince recalls his duty (although Hamlet vacillates between action and inaction) and ultimately returns from exile to kill his uncle (but Hamlet was not in exile at the time, and Simba does not personally kill Scar).

Much of Hamlet's plot has no parallel in The Lion King, however. Vogler claims that several further ideas were suggested to Disney but not incorporated into the movie, including possibly a fight of young Simba with some dangerous animal to mark his transition from a child to mature hero. The Hamlet argument appears to have been promoted by Disney personnel after the Kimba controversy started.

The contribution of Vogler itself raised controversy. At the time of the film's release, studios were clamoring to utilize Vogler's theories on applying mythic structure to screenplays to streamline story development. There was backlash by critics who felt that Vogler's treatises on story structure - which actually only codified basic mythic structure - was an industry-wide attempt at making all films formulaic. The Lion King, in particular, because of Vogler's involvement and its near-perfect adherence to mythic structure, was cited as a major culprit of the trend.

The 1988 Universal Pictures/Amblin Entertainment animated film The Land Before Time also has a few concepts that were apparently borrowed for use in The Lion King. When Littlefoot is crying over his mother, an old reptile gives him advice, mentioning "The Great Circle of Life". In the last part of the movie, Littlefoot's mother's ghost appears to him in cloud form and speaks to him; similar to how Mufasa speaks to Simba.

Subliminal messages

In one scene of the movie it appears as if animators had embedded the word "sex" into several frames of animation , which conservative activist Donald Wildmon asserted was a subliminal message intended to promote sexual promiscuity. The Disney Corporation's official response, however, was that it is supposed to read "SFX" (a common abbreviation of "special effects"), and was a sort of innocent "signature" signed by the effects animation team to the work they did. A close examination of the actual frames in question seems to reveal a different story, however. Numerous observers have claimed that the third letter looks more like a K than an X, making the embedded message "SEK" and not "SFX" or "SEX". This is a seemingly logical explanation for the embedded message, considering some of the animation work for the movie was done by North Korean animation studio SEK Studio.

"The Lion Sleeps Tonight"

The use of the song "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" 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.

Merchandise

Due to the film's popularity, especially during its initial release, a wide variety of merchandise has been manufactured. Items have ranged from more common items such as t-shirts and plush toys, to the more bizarre, such as a play shaving kit. The original release of the film generated far more merchandise than the recent release on DVD. In general, there are two packaging styles, helping to differentiate between old and new. Older merchandise usually features a green leaf pattern in the background, with The Lion King in black on an orange and red sunrise logo. The artwork of the characters, usually cub Simba, tends to be in flat colours featuring no shading. Newer merchandise usually adopts a red, sunrise-esque gradient background, similar to the 2005 IMAX poster. The logo is now white with silhouettes of some of the characters walking to the side of the word The and on top of Lion King. The artwork, usually featuring cub Simba as before, is now more detailed with shading.

Video games

Two video games based on the film have been released. The first, simply called The Lion King, was published in 1994 by Virgin and was released on NES, SNES, Game Boy, Sega Master System, Sega Megadrive, Game Gear, PC and Amiga. The second, entitled Simba's Mighty Adventure, was published in 2000 by Activision and was released on PlayStation and Game Boy Color.

A third game was published in 2004 simply called "The Lion King" for Game Boy Advance in Europe and Asia, but was in fact a game based on the direct-to-video prequel/midquel The Lion King 1½ with Timon and Pumbaa as the playable characters. Unlike its counterparts, the U.S. version clearly shows the title The Lion King 1½ on the box.

Simba makes an appearance in the PlayStation 2 game Kingdom Hearts as well as Chain of Memories as a summon - a character which can be summoned by the player during battle. Simba is a summon in this game because he refused to die after his world was consumed by the Heartless. In the sequel Kingdom Hearts II, many characters from the film appear in the game, and the entire world of The Lion King is explorable. At certain points, Simba temporarily joins the protagonists' party.

Titles in different languages

Trivia

  • Most of the characters in The Lion King were named using Swahili. Only in Simba's case does his name correspond to his species.
  • The phrase "Hakuna Matata" is gramatically incorrect in Swahili. Literally translated it means "Worries have I none" but Disney felt the incorrect phrase was more marketable than the correct one.
  • In the middle of the song "Be Prepared", the voice of Scar switches from Jeremy Irons to Jim Cummings on the line "You won't get a sniff without me!" This was due to Irons' voice giving out, rumored to be because of the cigarettes he smoked during production of the song.
  • When Scar throws Mufasa from the clifftop to his death, he says "Long live the king." On a featurette in the Special Edition DVD, the directors say that this was inspired somewhat by "Good night sweet prince," a line from Hamlet, spoken by Horatio at the end of the play.
  • Simba and Nala's new-born cub at the end of the film was a son called Kopa. However, the film's sequel Simba's Pride completely disregards Kopa's existence, with Simba and Nala having a daughter called Kiara.
  • Throughout every international dub of The Lion King, the only voice that wasn't changed was of Ed the hyena (performed by Jim Cummings). This is due to the fact that Ed never speaks. He only laughs and it wouldn't be necessary to get a foreign voice actor to "dub" laughter.
  • In some dubs, Rafiki's humming as he paints Simba on his tree and Zazu's irritated sigh as Scar spits him out were not dubbed.
  • In Scar's song "Be Prepared", Scar sits on a cliff overlooking his hyenas marching in front of him. This is a reference to the Nazi propaganda film Triumph of the Will, with Scar taking the place of Hitler.
  • In Disney's 1997 animated film Hercules, Scar's skin is worn by Hercules while he is posing for a painting on a Greek vase, a reference to the Nemean Lion. Andreas Deja was the animator of both Scar and Hercules.
  • In one scene in the film, young Simba says to Scar, "You're so weird." Scar replies, "You have no idea." This is a reference to a scene from the film Reversal of Fortune, where Irons plays the role of Claus von Bulow. In this film, Dershowitz (Ron Silver) says to von Bulow, "You are a very strange man." Von Bulow, hidden in the shadows of his limousine, replies, "You have no idea."
  • The Lion King has been referenced in the 2005-2006 series of the popular British sci-fi TV serial Doctor Who.
    • In the episode The Christmas Invasion, the Tenth Doctor (David Tennant) references the song Circle of Life. Julie Gardner, the executive producer for Doctor Who, mentions in the audio commentary for this episode that the "Lion King speech" is one of her favourite parts of the episode.
    • During the episode Rise of the Cybermen, the song "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" is played to drown out human screams.
  • Tetsuya Nomura, director of the Kingdom Hearts video game series, admitted that The Lion King is his favorite Disney movie.
  • Lion King is also the ring-nickname of Kamal El Amrani, a German Middle weight Muay Thai kick-boxer in the prestigious Super League, World Champion WPKL, World Champion IKBO, and the mixed K-1 competition.

See also

Cited References

External links

1994 films | Anthropomorphic films | Best Song Academy Award nominees | Best Song Academy Award | Films about animals | Musical films | Shakespeare on film | The Lion King films | Disney animated features canon | Disney films | Disney animated films

الأسد الملك | Løvernes Konge | Der König der Löwen | El rey león | شیرشاه | Le Roi Lion | Kralj lavova | The Lion King | Il Re Leone | מלך האריות | De Leeuwenkoning | ライオン・キング | Król Lew | The Lion King | Король лев (мультфильм) | Leijonakuningas | Lejonkungen | 狮子王

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "The Lion King".

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