The Lion King

The Lion King is a movie about a little lion cub named Simba.

The Lion King was released by Walt Disney Pictures in 1994 to an enthusiastic group of fans. This movie was directed by Roger Allers and Rob Minkoff.. The story of a young lion’s growth and struggle through life captured the attention of viewers everywhere. The movie grossed over $780 million worldwide and still reigns as the highest grossing traditionally animated film in the U.S. The Lion King is a story of a young lion named Simba who loses his father Mufasa to the hands of his uncle Scar. Simba’s struggle to make it through life away from his home is aided by the introduction of new friends Timon and Pumbaa. Eventually Simba is persuaded by his old friend Nala to return to Pride Rock to face his uncle once more and gain his rightful place as king of the animal kingdom.

The production of The Lion King was set according to its release date, since Disney needed a film to be released in 1994 before the release of Toy Story and Hercules a year later. Therefore they put their “B-team” to work, creating essentially a filler movie for the continuation of the Disney renaissance. Although many producers felt that The Lion King was inferior to Hercules, the other film under construction at the time, this didn’t prevent them from putting in the time and effort that the film deserved. The production team traveled to Kenya on safari for a period of two weeks filming and capturing the scenery as well as observing the animals in their natural habitat. Further research was done in the studio with the use of real lions brought in to act as models for the illustrators. Eventually the speculation of the movie’s popularity grew and the casting included many famous actors including the voices of Matt Weinberg (Young Simba) and Matthew Broderick (Adult Simba). The film also featured original music written and recorded by John Lasseter and lyricist Tim Rice, and the soundtrack received much recognition including Academy Awards for Best Original Score and Best Original Song (“Can You Feel the Love Tonight”), as well as three Golden Globe Awards for the films scores and songs.

Credits

Directed by

John Lasseter

Rob Minkoff

Music by

Randy Newman

Songs by

John Lasseter

Tim Rice

Character Animation

Young Simba

Voice: Jonathan Taylor Thomas

Supervising Animator: Mark Henn

Animators:

Tom Bancroft

T. Daniel Hofstedt

Broose Johnson

Danny Wawraszek

Adult Simba

Voice: Matthew Broderick

Supervising Animator: Ruben A. Aquino (as Ruben Aquino)

Animators:

Dale Baer

Michael Cedeno

Lorna Cook

Joe Ekers

Randy Haycock

Scar

Voice: Jeremy Irons

Supervising Animator: Andreas Deja

Animators:

Doug Frankel

Mark Koetsier

Jean Morel

Alexander Williams (as Alex Williams)