The Case of The Lion King (1994)

In the mid-1990s, Walt Disney Animation was several years into an era that would become known as their Renaissance. Recent releases like The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, and Aladdin had dazzled audiences with their beautiful visuals, great storytelling, superb acting performances, and of course, their music. In June of 1994, Disney proved that its box-office reign was far from over, with the release of a film that many consider to be the best animated Disney movie of all time: The Lion King.

The Lion King was a massive success by any standards. It became one of Disney’s all-time highest-grossing movies, and found a permanent place in pop culture history (and in the psyche of every child that witnessed the gut-wrenching death of Mufasa on the big screen.) It went on to inspire a massively successful Broadway musical, several sequels and TV shows, and of course a CGI re-make.

The film’s beautiful hand-drawn animation mixed with innovative techniques raised the bar for animated movies in the 1990s. The Lion King soon became a film by which all new animation was judged. It was an instant classic that hasn’t lost its staying power to this day.

So, let’s head back to the mid-1990s and explore the magic behind The Lion King!

Summary

A young lion cub named Simba is next in line to rule over all that the light touches in the pride lands. After his father Mufasa explains this to him, he becomes excited to take the throne. Meanwhile his spiteful and jealous uncle is scheming from the shadows. Simba must embark on a journey of self-discovery across the African savanna. Along the way, he will have to learn important lessons about responsibility, friendship, and the circle of life.

Making of

Disney animation has a reputation for adapting fairy tales, classic stories, and books. In fact it was adaptations of existing stories that had brought the studio back from a financial and critical dark period in the late-1980s. So to produce an animated film that followed a new story was a little outside of the box.

While the storyline of The Lion King is original, it drew inspiration from many different sources. There’s the undeniable similarities that the story has to Shakespeare’s Hamlet, as well as influences from classic bible stories about Joseph and Moses.
Peter Schnieder was the president of Walt Disney’s feature animation division in the late 1980s when he first got the idea for The Lion King. He had been traveling with chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg on a European promotional tour for Oliver and Company. According to Schnieder, he and Katzenberg were talking about Africa and then Katzenberg started talking about a time in his youth when he faced the responsibilities of adulthood. The combination of a coming-of-age story and the location of the African continent eventually led to the development of a screenplay that passed through many hands and multiple name changes like “King of the Jungle,” before becoming The Lion King.

This is the official story of how the film came to be, although it has been disputed. Charlie Fink, who was the vice president of Creative Affairs, has also been credited with the idea for the film. He claims that he pitched the idea of “Bambi in Africa with Lions.”

Thomas Disch, science fiction author of The Brave Little Toaster wrote a 9-page treatment for the film called, “King of the Kalahari.” Disney purchased his work and moved forward with the story, officially crediting nearly 30 writers for The Lion King.
Linda Woolverton, who wrote screenplays for films like Homeward Bound and Beauty and the Beast developed a screenplay for The Lion King, but left the production to work on the stage version of Beauty and the Beast. Irene Meechi and Jonathan Roberts finished the screenplay.
At this point in Disney animation history, there had only been a handful of original stories. Some even consider The Lion King to be the first, leaving out wartime movies like Saludos Amigos, possibly because they were combinations of shorts instead of one overarching story.

Throughout the storyboarding process, the heart of The Lion King became clear. Not only was it an animal allegory about growing up and accepting your role, it was also a story about the relationship between a father and son.

Rob Minkoff and Roger Allers were first-time directors of a full-length animated film when they took on The Lion King.

In November of 1991, a team of Disney artists traveled to East Africa to research the landscape and the animals. They were inspired by what they saw, and decided that The Lion King should mimic a biblical or western epic, with sweeping landscapes of open land. The movie needed to feel larger than life.
Production designer Andy Gaskill studied many different painting styles in order to achieve the naturalistic style of animation in the film. He and the team made sure to incorporate as many natural elements into the movie as possible. For example, you can’t animate wind, but you can animate the hair on an animal’s head.

There was a distinct art direction for different locations in the movie. Gaskill wanted Scar’s lair to be geothermically unstable to add the drama of the steam shooting up around him. He and the animators were also inspired by the Northridge Earthquake of 1994, and incorporated that into the scene.

Animators observed animals before bringing them to life. They even met with a wildlife expert who brought in lions that interacted with the team. Rubin Aquino was the animator that designed a wildebeest for one of The Lion King’s most famous sequences. His drawing was computerized and used to create hundreds of animals for the scene. This was how the sequence utilized hand-drawn and computer animation.

Storyboard artist Thom Enriquez spent about a year and a half on the wildebeest stampede before turning the scene over to the CG department. Overall, this six-seven minute scene took about the full three years of production.
All of the beasts are based on one run cycle. Then, different behaviors were added like bucking, head shakes, and kicking. They invented an avoidance program so that when the wildebeests were sent toward each other, they would always turn away at the last second, like a real stampede.

IMDB lists 467 people credited in the animation department for The Lion King. Each supervising animator was assigned a character similar to their personality, and tasked with bringing them to life. They acted out their scenes in front of the other animators to get an idea of how their character should move. Andreas Deja, who animated Gaston and Jafar, was assigned Scar. He thought that Scar should appear smooth and elegant, with a twist in his appearance any time he said something that sounded a bit off.

The Lion King is blessed with a cast of iconic characters, voiced by popular film and stage stars.

James Earl Jones inspired the animators with his powerful voice while playing the king Mufasa. Even without alteration, Jones’ natural voice sounded like the low roar of a lion.

In one key scene, when Mufasa is speaking to Simba from the sky, the sound effects artists surrounded Jones with five microphones to achieve the ethereal echo effect.
Mufasa doesn’t sing in the film, but there was a song written for his character that was later scrapped. It was called “To Be King.”
James Earl Jones is likely most famous as the voice of Darth Vader in the Star Wars franchise, but also had roles in films like The Sandlot and Field of Dreams.

Matthew Broderick of Ferris Bueller fame voiced the adult Simba.

Broderick said in an interview that he wasn’t given a script to memorize, but instead they took him into the studio and walked him through the storyboard, acting out the movie to him.
Broderick wanted to provide the speaking and singing voice for his character, but the directors brought in Joe Williams, the lead singer of the band Toto and the son of film composer John Williams, to sing for Simba.
Jonathan Taylor Thomas, who was acting on the show Home Improvement at the time, played Simba as a cub.

Thomas said at the time that he felt there were a lot of similarities between him and Simba. During one scene, the directors lightly hit Thomas’ back so that it sounded like Simba was really sliding down the spine of a dead elephant. While recording the stampede scene, they picked up the young actor and tossed him around.

Jason Weaver, who would go on to play Marcus Henderson on the TV series Smart Guy, provided the singing voice for young Simba. Weaver has said in interviews that Disney initially offered him 2 million dollars for the part, but that his mother turned down the deal to negotiate for royalties. According to him, the foresight brought him a lot more money in the long run.

Jeremy Irons voiced the formidable Scar, Mufasa’s brother and the main antagonist in the film.

Before recording, he was surprised to learn that the animation is usually done after the actors have recorded their lines. Not only that, the artists and animators that designed Scar used the actor as a reference to give the character similar characteristics to the actor.
Irons won an Annie Award for his portrayal of Scar.

Robert Guillaume (G-ee-ome) played the lovable and wise Rafiki, a Mandrill that serves as the Shaman for the Pride Lands.

This character had a much smaller role in the movie originally, but the filmmakers kept finding ways to add him into the story.
Rafiki is the unsung hero of the tale, showing up at the right moment to guide Simba through his trauma and reveal to him the truth about his destiny. He takes Simba to his tree, which was later dubbed “the Tree of Life,” because of its resemblance to the Tree of Life in Disney’s Animal Kingdom.
In the scene where Rafiki hits Simba on the head, the audience laughed so much that the animators added more animation between that moment and the dialogue so that the moviegoers wouldn’t miss what was being said.
Guillame was a film and TV actor that starred on the show Benson and in the film Lean on Me.

Moira Kelly played Nala, Simba’s childhood friend and eventual love interest.

Kelly said in an interview that she approached voicing the character as if she were reading a story to a child.
Kelly also starred in films like The Cutting Edge and Chaplin.
Niketa Calame-Harris voiced Nala as a child. She has made appearances in many TV shows throughout her career, like Perry Mason.

Broadway and film actors Nathan Lane and Ernie Sabella stole the show while bringing the characters Timon and Pumbaa to life.

They both auditioned to play hyenas in the film, but their comedic timing and chemistry made them the perfect pair to play the outcast meerkat and warthog.
Timon and Pumbaa play a pivotal role in Simba’s life, giving him a safe place to live and grow up while allowing him to be a kid. They truly care for Simba, almost acting as surrogate parents when he has nowhere else to go.
Nathan Lane is a Tony-winning actor that appeared in The Producers as well as many films and shows like Only Murders in the Building.
Ernie Sabella has appeared in many films and TV shows over his career and has had roles on Broadway, appearing in plays like Man of La Mancha.

Rowan Atkinson was hesitant to voice animation, but he truly brought the character of Zazu to life.

Zazu is the King’s Advisor and official babysitter of Simba. He also brought a lot of humor to the film with the help of Ellen Woodbury, the supervising animator for the character. Woodbury did a lot of research about birds, and would even flap around the studio to get the movement correct.
In one scene where Zazu is Scar’s prisoner, he sings the Disney classic It’s a Small World Afterall. Atkinson actually didn’t know the song and the directors had to teach it to him.
Atkinson is a British comedian best known for his character Mr. Bean.

Madge Sinclair played Sarabi, Simba’s mother.

She appeared in the TV series Gabriel’s Fire with James Earl Jones and in the film Coming to America.

Whoopi Goldberg, Cheech Marin, and Jim Cummings voiced the hyena trio of Shenzi, Banzai, and Ed respectively.

Whoopi Goldberg had heard about the film and wanted a part, so they cast her as Shenzi, the street-wise leader of the main hyena trio. Cheech Marin had already lent his voice to Oliver and Company before The Lion King. Veteran voice actor Jim Cummings played Ed, the hyena that never speaks, but laughs uncontrollably. Cummings has voiced many characters, like Winnie the Pooh and Tigger.

Frank Welker was the voice actor behind the animal sounds including the lions, hyenas, and wildebeests. Welker is a voice actor known for his incredible animal sounds, as well as voicing Fred in the Scooby Doo franchise.

Music

Hans Zimmer earned his first Oscar for scoring The Lion King. It remains to be one of his best scores, as it’s the heart and soul of the movie. Zimmer spent two years researching sounds and instruments to incorporate in the score. He also asked choirs of people, directed by composer Lebo M., to sing pieces of his score, which added a beautiful human element to the music.
The Lion King is also (of course) a musical! The songs featured in the film were written by music icon Elton John and lyricist Tim Rice. Before The Lion King, Rice also penned the lyrics for songs in Aladdin, and Broadway hits like Jesus Christ Superstar.

The Lion King has one of the most famous opening sequences in film history, and much of its lasting impact is due to its opening song, The Circle of Life.

The first trailer of the movie previewed the opening sequence with no other information, and producers were worried that audiences would be confused about what the film was about. But the teaser trailer intrigued audiences just enough without revealing too much of the story.
The Circle of Life was written by Tim Rice and Elton John with the help of South African composer Lebo M. (Lebohang Morake is his full name).

Shortly after Tim Rice wrote the English lyrics to the song, he handed them over to Elton John. According to Rice, Elton had written and recorded a demo on the same day.
Composer Hans Zimmer asked Lebo M. to consult on the song. Lebo then met with the team and provided examples of African chants to incorporate in the music. He was the one responsible for the opening Zulu chant lyrics. The direct translation of the words were something akin to “Here comes a lion, father; Oh yes it’s a lion; We’re going to conquer; A lion. A lion and a leopard come to this open place" However, literal translations never truly capture the spirit of the phrase, and it has also been translated to mean “Here comes the lion, my people. The father of our nation. We hail the lion. We will win. The royal lion wears his leopard spots.” According to Youtuber Isaac Carlson, this is a reference to African kings wearing leopard spots.

We will link to his video on translating the lyrics of The Lion King on our blog! It was a helpful resource for us, so you should check him out! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gr2YfnrP8XU

Lebo M has had a prolific music career, and have produced music alongside popular film composers like Jerry Goldsmith, Hans Zimmer, and James Newton Howard. Lebo didn’t just provide his insight for The Circle of Life, Hans Zimmer considered him to be his tour guide to the soundtrack and he was a driving force in how the songs were produced throughout the film, even directing the chorus of people that provided their voices in several songs.
The opening of The Lion King was originally going to include dialogue and a visual introduction to Scar, the film’s main antagonist. But ultimately, the filmmakers decided that this version was too chatty and that a visual introduction would be more powerful. After producing the opening, their only concern was that the rest of the film wouldn’t live up to its opening sequence.
The Circle of Life was performed by Lebo M and Carmen Twillie as the lead vocalists.

I Just Can’t Wait to be King is the only song sung by a child, and therefore has more childlike animation.

The sequence is bright and colorful, and the animals are less realistic. This was a lot of fun for the animators, because they were able to take a break from the realism from the opening song.
The emphasis on childhood in the song is to symbolize Simba’s innocence. He’s singing about how great it would be to be king, but doesn’t understand the implication that his father will have to die in order for that to happen. He also doesn’t understand the immense responsibility that will land on his shoulders.
The song was performed by Jason Weaver, Laura Williams, and Rowan Atkinson.

Be Prepared was originally called “Thanks to Me.” But, the filmmakers wanted Scar to seem more calculated and evil, and show how he plotted Mufasa’s death. They moved the song to that it happened earlier in the film and established that Scar was the villain.

Jeremy Irons worked on the vocals for the song for eight hours, blowing out his voice in the process. Jim Cummings, who was playing Ed the Hyena, stepped in and finished the song for him.
Whoopi Goldberg and Cheech Marin also perform in the song.
The animators had a lot of discussions about how much fascist imagery they wanted to use in the sequence. They included an image of the hyenas marching in step, akin to footage of Hitler and the Nazis.

When Simba meets Timon and Pumbaa in the film, they characters were originally going to sing a song called, “Warthog Rhapsody.” But, they needed the song to convey that Simba was turning his back on his responsibilities, so they named the song after the swahili phrase “Hakuna Matata.” The team reportedly found the term in a Swahili phrasebook, and it translates to mean “no trouble.”

Timon and Pumbaa were originally going to be characters that grew up with Simba, but the story department thought it would be more interesting if they were outcasts that hung out on the edge of society.
Hakuna Matata was performed by Nathan Lane, Ernie Sabella, Jason Weaver, and Joseph Williams.

Can You Feel the Love Tonight was the first song that Elton John wrote for the film.

This song opens with a duet between Timon and Pumbaa, played by Nathan Lane and Ernie Sabella. It quickly transitions into a voice-over song sung by Kristle Edwards, with parts sung by Joe Williams and Sally Dworsky as Simba and Nala.
Lyricist Tim Rice said that he wrote the song about 18 different times before he and Elton John landed on the final product. They considered having Timon and Pumbaa sing the entire thing, but having the funny duo sing the intro and outro to the song helped balance the drama with comedy.
The scene right before this song was one of the toughest to write. Nala discovers that while Scar has been mercilessly ruling the Pride Lands for the last several years, Simba (the heir to the throne) has not only been alive, but has been hiding from his responsibilities. Nala had to be (understandably) upset, but she couldn’t be *too* angry because the love song was coming up.

The Morning Report was a song written for the movie, but it was cut before the film made it to theaters. In 2003, Disney re-released The Lion King on DVD and added a version of the song into the movie. It was performed by Jeff Bennett and Evan Saucedo. In the original theatrical release, “the morning report” is simply Zazu reporting the daily news to Mufasa with a list of animal puns.

Reception/Awards/Legacy

The Lion King grossed $422.8 million in North America and would earn a worldwide total of nearly a billion dollars. After its initial run, it ranked as the highest-grossing animated film of all time and it would hold that place all the way until 2010 (Toy Story 3). Over time it would drop to 13th in the ranking but it still remains the highest-grossing hand-drawn animated film ever made.
Roger Ebert gave the film three and a half stars and called it "a superbly drawn animated feature. 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."

As you might have expected, The Lion King has won and been nominated for numerous awards. Including four academy awards, all of which were for its music. “Can You Feel The Love Tonight,” “Hakuna Matata,” and “The Circle of Life” were all nominated for Best Original Song and “Can You Feel The Love Tonight” was the winner. The other Oscer was for Hans Zimmer’s score.
The movie also brought home Annie Awards, one for Best Animated Feature. The head of story Brenda Chapman won for Best Individual Achievement for Story Contribution in the Field of Animation. As the story supervisor, she oversaw the team of storyboard artists and guided them while creating sequences. Chapman would go on to direct The Prince of Egypt and Brave.
This is truly a decorated film with over 40 awards across the industry.

With the huge success of the film, as you’d expect, it spawned many other media pieces. From the arguably only good straight to VHS sequel, “The Lion King II: Simba’s Pride”, to the spin-off tv series “The Lion King's Timon & Pumbaa” to the still performing highest grossing Broadway show of all time.
It also had video games, a half sequel, another tv series, and whether you like it or not, the current holder of the highest grossing animated film. That being the CGI remake from 2019.

Fun Facts

If you pause at the right time you can see the spelling of “SFX” in the sky.
A few weeks before the film opened, Elton John was given a special screening where Can You Feel The Love Tonight was left out! Of course he told Jeffrey Katzenberg to have the song put back in.
According to some Disney insiders, the team working on The Lion King was supposedly the "B team," who were "kept busy" while "A team" worked on Pocahontas.
The line, "What do you want me to do, dress in drag and do the hula?" was improvised by Nathan Lane.
In early drafts, Scar was a rogue lion with no relation to Mufasa. Eventually, however, the story writers thought relating him to Mufasa would be more interesting because he would be a threat from within. This is partly why Scar and Mufasa differ so much visually.
There is a lost verse of "Hakuna Matata" that was storyboarded which explained Timon's situation. It was later used in The Lion King 1½.
This was the first Disney animated film to be dubbed into the Zulu language for its African release.

The Lion King is a film that shaped a generation of Disney fans. There is no overstating its massive commercial and critical success. It would be almost 10 years later that Disney would evoke that kind of cultural response with Frozen.

Although Disney Animation had already made its comeback with classics like The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King cemented Disney’s spot as the most popular animation studio of its time. This film had something for everyone. There was potty humor for the kids, adult references that kept the older audience entertained, and songs that could make anyone sing along.

But beyond all that, The Lion King built on a tradition of storytelling that had been around for hundreds of years. It incorporated familiar plotlines and story beats, while adding its own magic. It’s a story about growing up. It’s about losing innocence and grief, but it’s also about the connection that holds all of us together. And from the moment that audiences saw that animated sun rise over the Pride Lands with those attention-grabbing vocals, it was clear that in terms of animation, Disney was once again the king.

Sources:

https://www.worldofhanszimmer.com/portfolio/lebo-m/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3o7eBeTQo0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43vWfiRYLxw
DVD Commentary
The Lion King: Twenty Years on Broadway and Around the World by Michael Lassell