The Lion King
The Lion King is a 1994 American animated musical coming-of-age drama film[4][5] produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Walt Disney Pictures. The film was directed by Roger Allers and Rob Minkoff (in their feature directorial debuts) and produced by Don Hahn, from a screenplay written by Irene Mecchi, Jonathan Roberts, and Linda Woolverton. The film features an ensemble voice cast that includes Matthew Broderick, Moira Kelly, James Earl Jones, Jeremy Irons, Jonathan Taylor Thomas, Nathan Lane, Ernie Sabella, Whoopi Goldberg, Cheech Marin, Rowan Atkinson, and Robert Guillaume. Its original songs were written by composer Elton John and lyricist Tim Rice, with a score by Hans Zimmer. Inspired by African wildlife, the story is modelled primarily on William Shakespeare's stage play Hamlet with some influence from the Biblical stories of Joseph and Moses, and follows a young heir apparent who is forced to flee after his uncle kills his father and usurps the throne. After growing up in exile, the rightful king returns to challenge the usurper and end his tyrannical rule over the kingdom.
This article is about the 1994 animated film. For its 2019 remake, see The Lion King (2019 film). For the entire Disney franchise, see The Lion King (franchise). For other uses, see The Lion King (disambiguation).The Lion King
- Barry Johnson
- Andy Gaskill
- Kevin Harkey
- Tom Sito
- Rick Maki
- Burny Mattinson
- Lorna Cook
- Gary Trousdale
- Jorgen Klubien
- Larry Leker
- Ed Gombert
- Mark Kausler
- Thom Enriquez
- Jim Capobianco
- Chris Sanders
- Joe Ranft
- Francis Glebas
Ivan Bilancio
- June 15, 1994 (United States)
88 minutes[1]
United States
English
$45 million[2]
$968.4 million[3]
Initially, The Lion King was supposed to be a non-musical, leaning towards a style similar to that of a documentary. George Scribner, who had made his feature directorial debut with Oliver & Company (1988), was hired to direct, with Allers joining him soon after following his work as a story artist or head of story on Oliver & Company, The Little Mermaid (1989), Beauty and the Beast (1991), and Aladdin (1992). Allers brought in Brenda Chapman and Chris Sanders, whom he had worked with on Beauty and the Beast and Aladdin, to serve as head of story and production designer, respectively.
Woolverton, who had just wrapped up work as screenwriter for Beauty and the Beast, wrote the initial draft of the screenplay for this film, but following her departure from the project to write the libretto for the Broadway adaptation of Beauty and the Beast, Mecchi and Roberts were brought on board to finish and revise the script. Six months into production, Scribner left the project due to creative differences with Allers, producer Hahn, and Chapman about changing it into a musical, and Minkoff was hired to replace him in April 1992. Additionally, Beauty and the Beast directors Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise were hired to perform some additional rewrites to the script and story. Throughout production, Allers, Scribner, Minkoff, Hahn, Chapman, Sanders, and several other animators visited Kenya to observe wildlife and get inspiration for the characters and setting.
The Lion King was released on June 15, 1994, receiving critical acclaim for its music, story, themes, and animation. With an initial worldwide gross of $763 million, it finished its theatrical run as the highest-grossing film of 1994 and the second-highest-grossing film of all time, behind Jurassic Park (1993).[6] It also held the title of being the highest-grossing animated film, until it was overtaken by Finding Nemo (2003). The film remains the highest-grossing traditionally animated film of all time, as well as the best-selling film on home video, having sold over 55 million copies worldwide. It received two Academy Awards, as well as the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy. It is considered by many to be among the greatest animated films ever made.
The film has led to many derived works, such as a Broadway adaptation in 1997; 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); two television series, The Lion King's Timon & Pumbaa (1995-1999) and The Lion Guard (2016-2019), the latter which premiered as a television film titled The Lion Guard: Return of the Roar in 2015; and a photorealistic remake in 2019, which also became the highest-grossing animated film at the time of its release. In 2016, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".[7] The Lion King is the first Disney film to have been dubbed in Zulu,[8] the only African language aside from Egyptian Arabic to have been used for a feature-length Disney dub.[9]
Plot
In the Pride Lands of Africa, a pride of lions rule over the kingdom from Pride Rock. King Mufasa and Queen Sarabi's newborn son, Simba, is presented to the gathering animals by Rafiki the mandrill, the kingdom's shaman and advisor. Mufasa's younger brother, Scar, covets the throne.
After Simba grows into a cub, Mufasa shows him the Pride Lands and explains the responsibilities of kingship and the "circle of life," which connects all living things. One day, Simba and his best friend Nala explore an elephant graveyard, where the two are chased by three spotted hyenas named Shenzi, Banzai, and Ed. Mufasa is alerted by his majordomo, the hornbill Zazu, and rescues the cubs. Though disappointed with Simba for disobeying him and endangering himself and Nala, Mufasa forgives him and explains that the great kings of the past watch over them from the night sky, from which he will one day watch over Simba. Scar, having planned the attack, visits the hyenas and convinces them to help him kill both Mufasa and Simba in exchange for hunting rights in the Pride Lands.
Scar sets a trap for Simba and Mufasa, luring Simba into a gorge and having the hyenas drive a large herd of wildebeest into a stampede to trample him. Mufasa saves Simba but winds up hanging perilously from the gorge's edge; he begs for Scar's help, but Scar throws Mufasa back into the stampede to his death. Scar tricks Simba into believing that the event was his fault and tells him to leave the kingdom and never return. He then orders the hyenas to kill Simba, but he escapes. Unaware of Simba's survival, Scar tells the pride that the stampede killed both Mufasa and Simba and steps forward as the new king, allowing the hyenas into the Pride Lands.
After he collapses in a desert, Simba is rescued by two outcasts, a meerkat and a warthog named Timon and Pumbaa. Simba grows up with his two new friends in their oasis, living a carefree life under their motto "hakuna matata" ("no worries" in Swahili). Years later, an adult Simba rescues Timon and Pumbaa from a hungry lioness, who turns out to be Nala. Simba and Nala fall in love, and she urges him to return home, telling him that the Pride Lands have become drought-stricken under Scar's reign. Still feeling guilty over Mufasa's death, Simba refuses and storms off. He encounters Rafiki, who tells Simba that Mufasa's spirit lives on in him. Simba is visited by the spirit of Mufasa in the night sky, who tells him that he must take his place as king. After Rafiki advises him to learn from the past instead of running from it, Simba decides to return to the Pride Lands.
Aided by his friends, Simba sneaks past the hyenas at Pride Rock and confronts Scar, who taunts Simba over his supposed role in Mufasa's death and backs him to the edge of the rock. Enraged by the revelation that Scar killed his father, Simba retaliates and forces Scar to confess the truth to the rest of the pride. A battle breaks out between Simba and his allies and the hyenas. Scar attempts to escape, but is cornered by Simba at a ledge near the top of Pride Rock. Scar begs for mercy and blames his actions on the hyenas; Simba spares Scar's life but, quoting what Scar told him long ago, orders Scar to leave the Pride Lands forever. Scar refuses and attacks Simba, but following a brief battle, Simba throws Scar off the ledge to the ground below. Scar survives the fall, but the hyenas, who overheard him betraying them, attack and maul him to death.
With Scar and the hyenas gone, Simba takes his place as king and Nala becomes his queen. With the Pride Lands restored, Rafiki presents Simba and Nala's newborn cub to the assembled animals, thus continuing the circle of life.
Production
Development
The origin of the concept for The Lion King is widely disputed.[12][13][14] According to Charlie Fink (then-Walt Disney Feature Animation's vice president for creative affairs), he approached Jeffrey Katzenberg, Roy E. Disney, and Peter Schneider with a "Bambi in Africa" idea with lions. Katzenberg balked at the idea at first, but nevertheless encouraged Fink and his writers to develop a mythos to explain how lions serviced other animals by eating them.[15] Another anecdote states that the idea was conceived during a conversation between Katzenberg, Roy E. Disney, and Schneider on a flight to Europe during a promotional tour.[k] During the conversation, the topic of a story set in Africa came up, and Katzenberg immediately jumped at the idea.[17] 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 career in politics, saying about the film, "It is a little bit about myself."[18]
On October 11, 1988, Thomas Disch (the author of The Brave Little Toaster) had met with Fink and Roy E. Disney to discuss the idea, and within the next month, he had written a nine-paged treatment entitled King of the Kalahari.[19][20] Throughout 1989, several Disney staff writers, including Jenny Tripp, Tim Disney, Valerie West and Miguel Tejada-Flores, had written treatments for the project. Tripp's treatment, dated on March 2, 1989, introduced the name "Simba" for the main character, who gets separated from his pride and is adopted by Kwashi, a baboon, and Mabu, a mongoose. He is later raised in a community of baboons. Simba battles an evil jackal named Ndogo, and reunites with his pride.[21] Later that same year, Fink recruited his friend J. T. Allen, a writer, to develop new story treatments. Fink and Allen had earlier made several trips to a Los Angeles zoo to observe the animal behavior that was to be featured in the script. Allen completed his script, which was titled The Lion King, on January 19, 1990. However, Fink, Katzenberg, and Roy E. Disney felt Allen's script could benefit from a more experienced screenwriter, and turned to Ronald Bass, who had recently won an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for Rain Man (1988). At the time, Bass was preoccupied to rewrite the script himself, but agreed to supervise the revisions. The new script, credited to both Allen and Bass, was retitled King of the Beasts and completed on May 23, 1990.[21]
Sometime later, Linda Woolverton, who was also writing Beauty and the Beast (1991), spent a year writing several drafts of the script, which was titled King of the Beasts and then King of the Jungle.[22] The original version of the film was vastly different from the final product. The plot centered on a battle between lions and baboons, with Scar being the leader of the baboons, Rafiki being a cheetah,[18] and Timon and Pumbaa being Simba's childhood friends.[23] Simba would not only leave the kingdom but become a "lazy, slovenly, horrible character" due to manipulations from Scar, so Simba could be overthrown after coming of age.[24] By 1990, producer Thomas Schumacher, who had just completed The Rescuers Down Under (1990), decided to attach himself to the project "because lions are cool".[22] Schumacher likened the King of the Jungle script to "an animated National Geographic special".[25]
George Scribner, who had directed Oliver & Company (1988), was the initial director of the film,[26] being later joined by Roger Allers, who was the lead story man on Beauty and the Beast (1991).[17][12] Allers worked with Scribner and Woolverton on the project, but temporarily left the project to help rewrite Aladdin (1992). Eight months later, Allers returned to the project,[27][28] and brought Brenda Chapman and Chris Sanders with him.[29] In October 1991, several of the lead crew members, including Allers, Scribner, Chapman, Sanders, and Lisa Keene visited Hell's Gate National Park in Kenya, in order to study and gain an appreciation of the environment for the film.[30][31] After six months of story development work, Scribner decided to leave the project upon clashing with Allers and the producers over their decision to turn the film into a musical, since Scribner's intention was of making a documentary-like film more focused on natural aspects.[17][26] By April 1992, Rob Minkoff had replaced Scribner as the new co-director.[10][29]
Don Hahn joined the production as the film's producer because Schumacher was promoted to Vice President of Development for Walt Disney Feature Animation.[32][25] 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 finished directing Beauty and the Beast (1991).[33] One of the definite ideas that stemmed from the meetings was to have Mufasa return as a ghost. Allers also changed the character Rafiki from a more serious court advisor into a wacky shaman.[34] The title was also changed from King of the Jungle to The Lion King, as the setting was not the jungle but the savannah.[17] It was also decided to make Mufasa and Scar brothers, as the writers felt it was much more interesting if the threat came from someone within the family.[35] Allers and Minkoff pitched the revised story to Katzenberg and Michael Eisner, to which Eisner felt the story "could be more Shakespearean"; he suggested modeling the story on King Lear. Maureen Donley, an associate producer, countered, stating that the story resembled Hamlet.[36] Continuing on the idea, Allers recalled Katzenberg asking them to "put in as much Hamlet as you can". However, they felt it was too forced, and looked to other heroic archetypes such as the stories of Joseph and Moses from the Bible.[37]
Not counting most of the segments from Fantasia (1940), Saludos Amigos (1942), The Three Caballeros (1944), Make Mine Music (1946) and Melody Time (1948); and The Rescuers Down Under (1990) (a sequel to The Rescuers (1977)), The Lion King was the first Disney animated feature to be an original story, rather than be based on pre-existing works and characters. The filmmakers have stated that the story of The Lion King was inspired by the lives of Joseph and Moses from the Bible, and Shakespeare's Hamlet,[35] though the story has also drawn some comparisons to Shakespeare's lesser known plays Henry IV, Part 1 and Part 2.[38]
By this point, Woolverton had left the production to work on the Broadway adaptation of Beauty and the Beast.[10] To replace her, Allers and Minkoff met with numerous screenwriters, including Billy Bob Thornton and Joss Whedon, to discuss writing the new screenplay.[36] During the summer of 1992, Irene Mecchi was hired as the new screenwriter, and months later, she was joined by Jonathan Roberts. Mecchi and Roberts took charge of the revision process, fixing unresolved emotional issues in the script and adding comedic situations for Pumbaa, Timon, and the hyenas.[39][10] Lyricist Tim Rice worked closely with the screenwriting team, flying to California at least once a month, as his songs for the film needed to work in the narrative continuity. Rice's lyrics—which were reworked up to the production's end—were pinned to the storyboards during development.[40] 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 because of dialogue changes.[41]
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.[42] Jones remarked that during the years of production, Mufasa "became more and more of a dopey dad instead of [a] grand king".[43]
Nathan Lane auditioned for Zazu, and Ernie Sabella for one of the hyenas. Upon meeting at the recording studio, Lane and Sabella – who were starring together in a Broadway production of Guys and Dolls at the time – were asked to record together as hyenas. The directors laughed at their performance and decided to instead cast them as Timon and Pumbaa.[42][44] For the hyenas, the original intention was to reunite Cheech & Chong, but while Cheech Marin agreed to voice Banzai, Tommy Chong was unavailable. His role was changed into a female hyena, Shenzi, voiced by Whoopi Goldberg, who insisted on being in the film.[23] The English double act Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer auditioned for roles as a pair of chipmunks; according to Mortimer, the producers were enthusiastic, but he and Reeves were uncomfortable with their corporate attitude and abandoned the film.[45] Rowan Atkinson was initially uninterested in the studio's offer to voice Zazu, later explaining that "voice work is something I generally had never done and never liked [...] I'm a visual artist, if I'm anything, and it seemed to be a pointless thing to do". His friend and fellow Mr. Bean writer/actor Robin Driscoll convinced him to accept the role, and Atkinson retrospectively expressed that The Lion King became "a really, very special film".[46]
Matthew Broderick was cast as adult Simba early during production. Broderick only recorded with another actor once over the three years he worked on the film, and only learned that Moira Kelly voiced Nala at the film's premiere.[47] English actors Tim Curry, Malcolm McDowell, Alan Rickman, Patrick Stewart, and Ian McKellen were considered for the role of Scar,[48] which eventually went to fellow Englishman Jeremy Irons.[49] Irons initially turned down the part, as he felt uncomfortable going to a comedic role after his dramatic portrayal of Claus von Bülow in Reversal of Fortune (1990). His performance in that film inspired the writers to incorporate more of his acting as von Bülow in the script – adding one of that character's lines, "You have no idea" – and prompted animator Andreas Deja to watch Reversal of Fortune and Damage (1992) in order to incorporate Irons' facial traits and tics.[43][50]
Marketing
For The Lion King's first film trailer, Disney opted to 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 (1993) and Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit (1993) in theaters; by then, only a third of The Lion King had been completed.[68][69] 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.[68] Prior to the film's release, Disney did 11 test screenings.[70]
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,[71] accounting 186 licensed products.[72][73] In 1994, Disney earned approximately $1 billion with products based on the film,[74] with $214 million for Lion King toys during Christmas 1994 alone.[75]
Release
Theatrical
The Lion King had a limited release in the United States on June 15, 1994, playing in only two theaters, El Capitan Theatre in Los Angeles and Radio City Music Hall in New York City,[76] and featuring live shows with ticket prices up to $30.[77]
The wide release followed on June 24, 1994, in 2,550 screens. The digital surround sound of the film led many of those theaters to implement Dolby Laboratories' newest sound systems.[78]
Localization
When first released in 1994, The Lion King numbered 28 versions overall in as many languages and dialects worldwide, including a special Zulu version made specifically for the film in South Africa, where a Disney USA team went to find the Zulu voice-actors. This is not just the only Zulu dubbing ever made by Disney, but also the only one made in any African language, other than Arabic.[79][80] The Lion King marks also the first time a special dubbing is released in honor of a Disney movie background, but not the last: in 2016 the film Moana (2016) received a special Tahitian language version,[81] followed in 2017 by a Māori version,[82] in 2018 by a Hawaiian version;[83] and in 2019 the film Frozen II (2019) was dubbed into Northern Sami, even though Frozen (2013) was not.[84][85] By 2022, 45 language adaptations of the film had been produced.[86] The special Zulu dubbing was made available on the streaming platform Disney+ in October 2022, together with the Māori dubbing of Moana, and the special Arapaho dubbing of Bambi.[87]
Following the success of the Māori dub of Moana, a Māori version of The Lion King was announced in 2021, and released theatrically on June 23, 2022, to align with the Māori holiday of Matariki.[88][89] Much of the Matewa Media production team, including producer Chelsea Winstanley, director Tweedie Waititi, and co-musical director Rob Ruha had previously worked on the Māori language version of Moana.[90] The Lion King Reo Māori is the first time a language adaptation has translated Elton John's "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" for the ending credits.[86]
Reception
Box office
The Lion King grossed $422.8 million in North America and $545.7 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $968.5 million.[2] After its initial run, having earned $763.5 million,[125] it ranked as the highest-grossing animated film of all time, the highest-grossing film of Walt Disney Animation Studios,[126] and the highest-grossing film of 1994.[127] It was the second-highest-grossing film of all time, behind Jurassic Park (1993).[6] The film remained as the second-highest-grossing film until the spot was taken by Independence Day (1996) two years later.[128]
It held the record for the highest-grossing animated feature film (in North America, outside North America, and worldwide) until it was surpassed by Finding Nemo (2003). With the earnings of the 3D run, The Lion King surpassed all the aforementioned films but Toy Story 3 (2010) to rank as the second-highest-grossing animated film worldwide—later dropping to ninth, and then tenth, surpassed by its photorealistic CGI remake counterpart—and it remains the highest-grossing hand-drawn animated film.[96] It is also the biggest animated movie of the last 50 years in terms of estimated attendance.[129] The Lion King was also the highest-grossing G-rated film in the United States from 1994 to 2003 and again from 2011 to 2019 until its total was surpassed by Toy Story 4 (2019) (unadjusted for inflation).[130]