http://deadline.com/2016/12/national-film-registry-2016-list-thelma-louise-princess-bride-lion-king-1201870406/ Although this movie is rated G by the MPAA, it received a TV-PG rating on most TV channels for the violent content, especially the scene where Mufasa dies. The Brave Little Toaster (1987) • Valiant (2005) • The Wild (2006) • A Christmas Carol (2009) • Gnomeo & Juliet (2011) • Mars Needs Moms (2011) • Strange Magic (2015) • The Lion King (2019) In Mouse Hunt, Nathan Lane's character Ernie Smuntz says Hakuna Matata to one of the auctioneers, a reference to Timon in the Lion King.

Musical: Lioness Hunt • Rafiki Mourns • One by One • Grasslands Chant • Chow Down • The Madness of King Scar • Shadowland • Endless Night • Simba Confronts ScarIn fact, The Lion King is the first (and third overall) film in the Disney Animated Canon to have an entirely non-human cast since Robin Hood in 1973.

The idea for The Lion King was conceived in late 1988 during a conversation between Jeffrey Katzenberg, Roy E. Disney, and Peter Schneider on a plane to Europe to promote Oliver & Company. During the conversation, the topic of a story set in Africa came up, and Katzenberg immediately jumped at the idea. [2] Producer Thomas Schumacher, who had just completed The Rescuers Down Under, decided to attach himself to the project "because lions are cool". The idea was then developed by Walt Disney Feature Animation's vice president for creative affairs Charlie Fink. [3] Katzenberg decided to add elements involving coming of age and death, [4] and ideas from personal life experiences, such as some of his trials in his bumpy road in politics, saying about the film, "It is a little bit about myself." [4] In November of that year Thomas Disch (author of The Brave Little Toaster) wrote a treatment entitled King of the Kalahari, [5] and afterwards Linda Woolverton spent a year writing drafts of the script, which was titled King of the Beasts and then King of the Jungle. [3] The original version of the film was very different from the final film. The plot was centered in a battle being between lions and baboons with Scar being the leader of the baboons, Rafiki being a cheetah, [4] and Timon and Pumbaa being Simba's childhood friends. [6] Simba would also not leave the kingdom, but become a "lazy, slovenly, horrible character" due to manipulations from Scar, so Simba could be overthrown after coming of age. [3] The Lion King II: Simba's Pride: He Lives in You • We Are One • My Lullaby • Upendi • One of Us • Love Will Find a Way Books: Marvel Comics • The Art and Making of The Lion King • The Lion Guard: Can't Wait to be Queen • The Lion King: The Novelization • The Lion King: The Full Film Script The film is one of Disney's first attempts at animating hair and fur, due to getting its technology to create fur.

This is the only Disney animated feature from the 'Disney Renaissance' era to have absolutely no humans in the movie.

With Scar and the hyenas gone, and with the rightful king in place, the Pride Lands are restored which is turning green with life again. The film concludes with Rafiki presenting Simba and Nala's newborn cub into the air, thus continuing the Circle of Life. The development of The Lion King started concurrently with Pocahontas, which most of the animators of Walt Disney Feature Animation decided to work on instead, believing it would be the more prestigious and successful of the two. [9] The story artists also did not have much faith in the project, with Brenda Chapman declaring she was reluctant to accept the job " because the story wasn't very good", [3] and writer Burny Mattinson saying to co-worker Joe Ranft about the film that " I don't know who is going to want to watch that one." [8] Most of the leading animators were either doing their first major work supervising a character, or had much interest in animating an animal. [4] Thirteen of these supervising animators, both in California and Florida, were responsible for establishing the personalities and setting the tone for the film's main characters. The animation leads for the main characters included Mark Henn on young Simba, Ruben A. Aquino on adult Simba, Andreas Deja on Scar, Aaron Blaise on young Nala, Anthony DeRosa on adult Nala, and Tony Fucile on Mufasa. Nearly 20 minutes of the film, including the " I Just Can't Wait to Be King" sequence, [6] were animated at the Disney-MGM Studios facility. Ultimately, more than 600 artists, animators, and technicians contributed to The Lion King over the course of its production. Weeks before the film was to be released, production was affected by the 1994 Northridge earthquake, which shut off the studio and required the animators to finish their work from home. [11] Neuwirth, Allan. Makin' toons: inside the most popular animated TV shows and movies. Skyhorse Publishing Inc.. ISBN 978-1-58115-269-2.Season Three: " Battle for the Pride Lands" • " The Harmattan" • " The Accidental Avalanche" • " Ghost of the Mountain" • " Marsh of Mystery" • " Dragon Island" • " Journey of Memories" • " The Race to Tuliza" • " Mama Binturong" • " Friends to the End" • " The Tree of Life" • " The River of Patience" • " Little Old Ginterbong" • " Poa the Destroyer" • " Long Live the Queen" • " The Lake of Reflection" • " The Triumph of the Roar" • " Journey to the Pride Lands" • " Return to the Pride Lands" 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. Nathan Lane originally auditioned for Zazu, and Ernie Sabella for one of the hyenas. Upon meeting each other at the recording studio, the actors, who at the time both co-starred in Guys and Dolls, were asked to record together as hyenas. The directors laughed at their performance and decided to cast them as Timon and Pumbaa. [10] For the hyenas, the original intention was to reunite Cheech & Chong, but while Cheech Marin accepted to play Banzai, Tommy Chong was unavailable. Thus, his role was changed into a female hyena, Shenzi, who was voiced by Whoopi Goldberg. [6] This is the second film in which James Earl Jones and Madge Sinclair appear as king and queen, and the parents of the protagonist, the first being in an R-rated live-action movie Coming to America. The film became available on Digital HD August 15, 2017, and on Blu-ray/DVD August 29, 2017. It later got a 4K Ultra HD release on December 4, 2018.

Jeremy Irons and Ernie Sabella both share the same birthday: September 19; Sabella was born on Irons's first birthday. The Lion King was the first-ever feature film to be translated to European Portuguese and the first Disney film to be dubbed in Zulu. Toy Story (1995) • A Bug's Life (1998) • Toy Story 2 (1999) · Monsters, Inc. (2001) • Finding Nemo (2003) • The Incredibles (2004) • Cars (2006) • Ratatouille (2007) • WALL-E (2008) • Up (2009) • Toy Story 3 (2010) • Cars 2 (2011) • Brave (2012) • Monsters University (2013) • Inside Out (2015) • The Good Dinosaur (2015) • Finding Dory (2016) • Cars 3 (2017) • Coco (2017) • Incredibles 2 (2018) • Toy Story 4 (2019) • Onward (2020) • Soul (2020) • Luca (2021) • Turning Red (2022) • Lightyear (2022) • Elemental (2023)The Lion King was the first Disney animated feature to be an original story, rather than being based on an already-existing work. The filmmakers have said that the story of The Lion King was inspired by the Joseph and Moses stories from the Bible and William Shakespeare's Hamlet. [9] Despite these claims, the story was not based on the aforementioned works, having actually taken more inspiration from actual animal behavior. During the summer of 1992, the team was joined by screenwriter Irene Mecchi, with a second screenwriter, Jonathan Roberts, joining a few months later. Mecchi and Roberts took charge of the revision process, fixing unresolved emotional issues in the script and adding comic business for Pumbaa, Timon, and the hyenas. Lyricist Tim Rice worked closely with the writing team, flying to California at least once a month, as his songs needed to work in the narrative continuity. Rice's lyrics – which were reworked up to the production's end – were even pinned to the storyboards during development. [7] 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 due to dialog changes. [3] Even though the setting is definitely Africa, there are some minor anomalies in the selection of animal species portrayed in the movie. In the "circle of life" sequence, leaf-cutter ants are seen crawling on a branch, even though leaf cutter ants are not only found in South America, they are endemic there. Also, Timon is a meerkat, and they are found in parts of Namibia and throughout South Africa, miles from Hell's Gate National Park where the main setting of the film is heavily modeled.