The Lion King was conceived during conversations among various Disney executives, to whom several writers submitted early treatments under the title King of the Jungle. Original director George Scribner had envisioned The Lion King as a nature documentary-style film, with Allers joining as co-director after having worked in the story departments of several successful animated Disney films. The Lion King's plot draws inspiration from several sources, notably William Shakespeare's play Hamlet, as well as the Bible. Woolverton, screenwriter for Disney's Beauty and the Beast (1991), drafted early versions of The Lion King's script, which Mecchi and Roberts were hired to revise once Woolverton left to prioritize other projects. Scribner departed due to disagreements over the studio's decision to reimagine the film as a musical, with original songs by Elton John and Tim Rice, and Minkoff was hired to replace him in April 1992. Throughout production, the creative team visited Kenya for research and inspiration.
In the Pride Lands of Tanzania, a pride of lions rule over a large swath of Africansavanna which they oversee as their "kingdom" with Mufasa (James Earl Jones), a wise and benevolent lion, watching over it and the other animals as "king" alongside with Sarabi (Madge Sinclair), his mate and the leader of the lioness hunting party who serves as the queen of the Pride Lands. As the sun rises over the Pride Lands, a large crowd of animals gather at the foot of Pride Rock to commemorate the birth of Simba, Mufasa and Sarabi's newborn cub (whose name is Swahili for "lion"). Rafiki (Robert Guillaume), an wise and old mandrill with an unnaturally long tail like a baboon who lives in a baobab tree and serves as the kingdom's shaman and advisor by presenting the newborn lion cubs of the king and queen to the onlooking animals and performing his shamanistic services for the lions, travels to Pride Rock to perform Simba's presentation ceremony with an anointment and introduces him to the crowd by standing towards the edge and raising the cub high above their heads while Mufasa and Sarabi observe from behind them and the celebrating animals rejoice ("Circle of Life"). Scar (voiced by Jeremy Irons and singing voiced by Jim Cummings), Mufasa's scheming younger brother and rival, covets the throne that he was originally first-in-line to take until he was suddenly replaced by the new prince whom he is jealous of as it means that he's no longer first-in-line because Simba will be destined to inherit the throne and become the next king instead of him when Mufasa dies.
Mufasa shows Simba (voiced by Jonathan Taylor Thomas and singing voiced by Evan Saucedo and Jason Weaver) the Prides Lands and forbids him from exploring beyond its borders. He explains to Simba about the responsibilities of kingship for protecting and maintaining the delicate balance of the ecosystem while mediating problems between its creatures and the "circle of life" which connects all living creatures and things, teaching him what a king is supposed to be and advising him to prepare for the day when he'll succeed him ("The Morning Report").
Scar plots to eliminate Simba and take the throne for himself in order to improve his own chances of becoming king. He manipulates Simba into exploring an elephants' graveyard beyond the Pride Lands by claiming that only brave lions go there. Simba invites his best friend, Nala (voiced by Niketa Calame and singing voiced by Laura Williams), (whom he is betrothed to when they were born and younger infants by their parents) and often accompanied on his adventures throughout the Pride Lands, to visit the forbidden elephant graveyard, despite Mufasa's orders. After performing a song to enunciate Simba's desires to become king ("I Just Can't Wait to Be King"), they sneak off to enter the elephant graveyard where they are soon ambushed and chased by the three spotted hyenas named Shenzi, Banzai and Ed (Whoopi Goldberg, Cheech Marin and Jim Cummings) who are aligned with Scar whom they serve as his minions. Mufasa is alerted by his majordomo, the hornbill Zazu (voiced by Rowan Atkinson and singing voiced by Jeff Bennett), and rescues the cubs, scaring the hyenas. Though disappointed in 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'll one day watch over Simba. Scar visits the hyenas and devises a plan to kill Mufasa and Simba, which he sings to convince them into helping him get rid of his older brother and nephew in exchange for hunting rights in the Pride Lands with a promise that they and the rest of their fellow hyenas will have food to end their hunger in return for their assistance in participating in his plot ("Be Prepared").
The next day, Scar takes Simba into a gorge. Scar has actually planned a wildebeeststampede. Simba is trapped in the gorge as the wildebeest run towards him. Scar tells Mufasa that Simba is in trouble. Mufasa rescues Simba but is left hanging on a cliff. Scar then throws Mufasa into the stampede and Mufasa dies. Scar blames Simba for the death of Mufasa and Simba runs away.
Scar becomes king and tells everyone that Simba and Mufasa are dead. Simba runs to a desert and collapses. He is rescued by Timon the meerkat and Pumbaa the warthog. Timon and Pumbaa live in the jungle. Timon and Pumbaa look after Simba until Simba is an adult lion.
One day a female lion comes to the jungle and tries to kill and eat Pumbaa. Simba fights the lioness. Simba finds out that the other lion is his friend Nala. They are very happy to see each other and they fall in love. Nala wants Simba to go home and fight Scar because Scar is a bad king. Simba does not want go home because he thinks that he killed Mufasa.
Rafiki comes to the jungle and takes Simba to a field. In the sky above the field, Mufasa's ghost appears and tells Simba that he must go home because Simba is the true king. After this Simba goes home. Nala, Timon and Pumbaa follow him. When they get there, they see that the land is dry and the animals have gone because the hyenas have destroyed the food chain (Scar let them).
Nala gathers all of the lions and they fight Scar's hyenas. Simba attacks Scar. Scar does not want to die and so he lies to Simba that the hyenas are to blame for everything. This angers the hyenas and they attack and eat Scar alive. Rain starts to pour and the circle of life is restored.
Adaptations
The movie was also made into an award-winningstage musical. The stage show first opened on November 13, 1997 in New York City. It has been a big success. A version opened later in London, England. It is one of the United Kingdom's biggest and most popular shows. Many other shows of The Lion King have been shown across the world.
Matthew Broderick as Simba, son of Mufasa and Sarabi, who grows up to become King of the Pride Lands. Rock singer Joseph Williams voiced adult Simba's singing voice.
Jonathan Taylor Thomas voiced young Simba, while Jason Weaver voiced the cub's singing voice and Evan Saucedo voiced the cub's singing voice in "The Morning Report", a newly animated song sequence added to the 2003 DVD Special Edition of The Lion King.
Jeremy Irons as Scar, Mufasa's younger brother who seizes the throne. Jim Cummings partly voiced Scar's singing voice for the song "Be Prepared."
Moira Kelly as Nala, Simba's best friend who later becomes his mate and Queen of the Pride Lands. Sally Dworsky voiced adult Nala's singing voice.
Niketa Calame provided the voice of young Nala while Laura Williams voiced her singing voice.
Nathan Lane as Timon, an insouciant, fast-talking, wisecracking and self-absorbed yet loyal and trustworthy bipedalmeerkat who becomes one of Simba's best friends.
Ernie Sabella as Pumbaa, an kindhearted and courageous yet occasionally childlike naïve warthog and Timon's best friend who suffers from uncontrollable flatulence and also becomes one of Simba's best friends.
Robert Guillaume as Rafiki, an wise and old mandrill who serves as the Pride Lands' shaman by presenting the newborn cubs of the king and queen to the animals.
Rowan Atkinson as Zazu, a hornbill who serves as the king's majordomo. Jeff Bennett voiced Zazu's singing voice in "The Morning Report", a newly animated song sequence added to the 2003 DVD Special Edition of The Lion King.
Madge Sinclair as Sarabi, Mufasa's mate, Simba's mother and the leader of the lioness hunting party who serves as the Queen of the Pride Lands.
Whoopi Goldberg as Shenzi, the sassy and short-tempered female leader of the three leaders of a clan of spotted hyenas who align with Scar as his allies and serve as his minions who participate in his plot.
Cheech Marin as Banzai, an aggressive and hot-headed hyena who is prone to complaining and acting on impulse.
Jim Cummings as Ed, a dimwitted hyena who doesn't talk, but only communicates through laughter.
Zoe Leader as Sarafina, Nala's mother who is briefly shown talking to Sarabi, Simba's mother.
The Lion King received many award nominations. These include the Academy Award for Best Original Score (by Hans Zimmer) and the Golden Globe award for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy. It won both. The song "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" by Elton John and Tim Rice 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.
Best Song Written for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media for "Circle of Life" (Nominated, lost to "Streets of Philadelphia" from Philadelphia.)
The Lion King was re-released in IMAX in 2003, 3D in 2011, for Disney's 100th anniversary in 2023 and for the movie's 30th anniversary in 2024.
Controversies
"SEX"
In one scene of the movie, it looks as if animators had accidentally written the word "sex" into some of the frames of animation, but that was a word that was vulgar and indicates sexual promiscuity. However, they wanted to show the letters "SFX" (meaning "special effects"). Because of that, in The Lion KingDVD the word has been taken out. Now, the word now reads correctly as "SFX".
Kimba the White Lion
Kimba the White Lion is an animated television program from the 1960s. It was made in Japan by Osamu Tezuka. Some characters and parts of the story in The Lion King are similar to Kimba the White Lion but Disney has said that it was not done on purpose.
"The Lion Sleeps Tonight"
In one scene with Timon and Pumbaa, they both sing "The Lion Sleeps Tonight". This has caused problems between Disney and the family of South AfricanSolomon Linda, who composed the song (originally titled "Mbube") in 1939. In July 2004, the family went to court, seeking $1.6 million in royalties from Disney. In February 2006, Linda's family reached a legal settlement with Abilene Music, who held the worldwide rights and had let Disney us the song.
In August 2007, the Hamasterrorist group made an animated propaganda movie that made fun of the style of The Lion King. The programme was shown on their television station, Al-Aqsa TV. Hamas was shown as a lion that chased and killed rats that looked like members of the secularFatah group in Gaza. The programme was shown for a short time but was taken off the air for changes.
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