The Lion King celebrates 30 years in the Disney savannah. Directed by Roger Allers and Rob Minkoff, the 32nd animated classic premiered on June 12, 1994. Inspired byHamlet by Shakespeare, the feature film tells the story of Simba. A young lion who must avenge the death of his father Mufasa and prevent his evil uncle Scar from conquering the kingdom. With a global gross of over 968 million dollarsand the most successful traditional animated film ever. The Lion King roars in the epic soundtrack that helped establish him in the Hollywood firmament. Iconic music that was worth the film two Oscarsas best soundtrack by Hans Zimmer And best song to Can You Feel The Love Tonight. His memorable songs bear the signature of the composer Elton John and the lyricist Tim Rice.
A phenomenon that has generated a Broadway adaptation winner of 6 Tony Awardsincluding best musical, and a remake photorealistic computer graphics in 2019. On December 20th, the latter’s prequel will arrive in cinemas which will focus on the relationship between the brothers Mufasa and Scar, entitled Mufasa: The Lion King. Here you are, 10 curiosities about Disney Renaissance masterpiece.
How the Disney savannah comes to life
For The Lion King More than one million designs were created, including 1,197 hand-painted backgrounds and 119,058 individually colored frames.
Real cats in the Studios
The creative team brought real lions and cubs into the Disney studios to study their movements together with expert Jim Fowler, host of the television program WildKingdom.
Jeremy Irons iconic villain
The British actor, known for his characters as charismatic as they are ambiguous, was preferred to Tim Curry (the clown in It) and Malcolm McDowell (Clockwork Orange) for the role of Scar to which he lends his voice.
Scar or better said Scarface
The gash on the left eye of Simba’s evil uncle is a tribute to Al Pacino’s Tony Montana in Scarface by De Palma.
Hans Zimmer’s influences
The great German composer, at first, hesitated at the idea of ​​working in an animated film. Luckily, he changed his mind. He said he was inspired by the African sound and by the master Ennio Morricone, in particular, by the soundtrack of Once upon a time in America.
Hakuna Matata It wasn’t in the script
In the original script, Timon and Pumbaa’s iconic motto was titled He’s Got It All Worked Out but “he wasn’t joyful enough.” Thus, the lyricist Tim Rice, returning from a trip to Kenya, pronounced «Hm… Hakuna Matata. It sounds a little Bibbidi-bobbidi-boo.»
Simba’s mane
The protagonist’s mane was inspired by Jon Bon Jovi’s lion hair.
Jeffrey Katzenberg’s farewell
The Lion King is the last film from the Studios under the supervision of the father of the Disney Renaissance (which began in 1989 with The little Mermaid), before he founded DreamWorks together with Steven Spielberg and David Geffen.
Home video records
The Lion King it is the best-selling videocassette of all time, with over 55 million copies.
Kimba or Simba?
There are numerous similarities between The Lion King And Kimba – The White Lion, the anime based on Osamu Tezuka’s manga published from 1950 to 1954. So much so that Matthew Broderick, the original voice of Simba, believed for a moment that he was working on a remake of the Japanese animated series. Disney, even today, flatly denies plagiarism, claiming that all similarities with the Japanese cartoon are purely coincidental.
Source: Vanity Fair
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