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The Lion King

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The Lion King
Directed by
Written by
Story by
Based onthe story of destiny Hell's Gate, Naivasha, Kenya
Produced byDon Hahn
Starring
Edited byIvan Bilancio
Music byHans Zimmer
Production
companies
Distributed byBuena Vista Pictures Distribution
Release date
  • June 15, 1994 (1994-06-15)
Running time
88 minutes[1]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$45 million[2]
Box office$1.063 billion[2]

The Lion King is an animated movie made by Disney in 1994. It was the most successful animated movie of the 1990s. The movie is about a young lion prince who learns about his role as king and in the circle of life.

It is dedicated to Frank Wells. Wells was the president of The Walt Disney Company. He died in a helicopter accident shortly before the movie was released into theaters. The movie was the first full-length Disney movie with no human characters since Bambi.

Most of the voice acting was done by well-known actors. This includes Matthew Broderick, Nathan Lane, James Earl Jones, Jeremy Irons, Whoopi Goldberg, Cheech Marin, Rowan Atkinson, Jonathan Taylor Thomas and Frank Welker.

The Lion King is a musical. The music for the songs was written by Elton John. The lyrics were written by Tim Rice. Computer animation was used a lot to make the movie. The people who wrote The Lion King got a lot of ideas from Hamlet.

Story

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Many animals gather to see Simba, who had just been born. Simba is the son of Mufasa and Sarabi, the King and Queen of the Pridelands (an area ruled by lions). The animals celebrate and rejoice. Scar, Mufasa's brother, is jealous because Simba will be king instead of him when Mufasa dies.

Scar lies to Simba about a called the Elephant Graveyard. Scar says that only brave lions go there. Simba and his best friend Nala find the Elephant Graveyard. They are chased by the three hyenas (their names are Shenzi, Banzai and Ed). Mufasa saves Simba and Nala and takes them both home. Mufasa talks to Simba alone. He explains to Simba that being brave is not about looking for danger.

Scar is angry with the hyenas because they did not kill Simba. It is shown that the hyenas are working for Scar. They plan to kill Simba and Mufasa so that Scar can become king and the hyenas can help him rule over the animals.

The next day, Scar takes Simba into a gorge. Scar has actually planned a wildebeest stampede. 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

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The movie was also made into an award-winning stage 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.

This movie has a sequel called The Lion King II: Simba's Pride.

In 2019, a computer animated remake was released.

Characters

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  • Simba - Mufasa's son, Scar's nephew, Nala's eventual husband and the future king.
  • Nala - Simba's eventual wife and the future queen.
  • Timon and Pumbaa - A meerkat and warthog duo who adopt Simba as a cub.
  • Mufasa - The king of the Pride Lands, Simba's father and Scar's older brother.
  • Scar - Simba's arch-nemesis and uncle and Mufasa's younger brother.
  • Shenzi, Banzai and Ed - Three hyenas who are Scar's henchmen.
  • Rafiki - A mandrill shaman.
  • Zazu - A hornbill who serves as adviser to Mufasa, later Simba.
  • Sarabi - Simba's mother, Mufasa's wife, Scar's sister-in-law and Nala's mother-in-law
  • Nala's Mother - Simba's mother-in-law and the sister-in-law of Mufasa, Sarabi and Scar

Voices

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International Versions

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Danish Dubbing år: 1994

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  • Simba (Barn) – Andreas Hviid
  • Simba (Voksne) – Peter Jorde
  • Nala (Barn) – Amalie Ihle Alstrup
  • Nala (Voksne) – Pernille Højgaard
  • Mufasa – Aage Haugland
  • Sarabi – Kirsten Olesen
  • Scar – Stig Hoffmeyer
  • Rafiki – Peter Belli
  • Zazu – Peter Zhelder
  • Timon – Henrik Koefoed
  • Pumba – Lars Thiesgaard
  • Shenzi – Lone Kellermann
  • Banzai – Donald Andersen
  • Ed/Ib – ?
  • Sarafina – Ann Hjort
  • Muldvarp – Kjeld Nørgaard

Choirs

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  • Nicoline Møller
  • Lise Nees
  • Trine Dansgaard
  • Pia Scharling
  • Johnny Jørgensen
  • Brian Grønbæk Jensen
  • Søren Launbjerg

Box office performance

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When the movie was released, it was the most successful movie worldwide. It was behind Forrest Gump as most successful in the United States that year. The movie was the most successful animated feature movie of all time until Finding Nemo. As of February 2022, the movie has earned with over 1 billion dollars worldwide.[2] After inflation, it’s the third most successful animated movie that anyone has made yet.

Source Gross (USD) % Total All Time Rank
Domestic $328,541,776 ($312,855,561 initially) 41.9% 16
Foreign $455,300,000 58.1% N/A
Worldwide $783,841,776[4] 100.0% 19
Domestic Opening Weekend $40,888,194 13.1% 99
Domestic Adjusted (2007) $508,185,200 N/A 24

Awards and nominations

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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.

Other awards include:

Sequels and spin-offs

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The Lion King was so successful that Disney created a sequel called The Lion King II: Simba's Pride and a television series called The Lion King's Timon and Pumbaa. A spinoff and parallel film, The Lion King 1½, was released on February 10, 2004. A preschool series called The Lion Guard was released on Disney Junior.

A live action of the film was released on 19 July 2019.

Re-releases

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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

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"SEX"

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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 King DVD the word has been taken out. Now, the word now reads correctly as "SFX".

Kimba the White Lion

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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.[14]

"The Lion Sleeps Tonight"

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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 African Solomon 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.[15]

Hidden racism

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Upon its release, some critics complained that the hyenas in the movie were negative (bad) racial stereotypes of African-American people and Hispanic people.[16]

Hamas' propaganda

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In August 2007, the Hamas terrorist 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 secular Fatah group in Gaza. The programme was shown for a short time but was taken off the air for changes.[17][18]

Songs

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  • "Circle of Life"
  • "I Just Can't Wait to Be King"
  • "Be Prepared"
  • "Hakuna Matata"
  • "Can You Feel the Love Tonight?"
  • "The Bait Song" (Timon & Pumbaa's Hula)

Notes

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  1. ↑ Mark Henn and Ruben A. Aquino respectively served as the supervising animators for young and adult Simba.[3]
  2. ↑ Andreas Deja served as the supervising animator for Scar.[3]
  3. ↑ Tony Fucile served as the supervising animator for Mufasa.[3]

References

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  1. ↑ "The Lion King (U)". British Board of Film Classification. Retrieved July 21, 2013.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 "The Lion King". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2011-10-04.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 "The Lion King: Production Notes" (Press release). Walt Disney Pictures. May 25, 1994. Archived from the original on October 26, 2008. Retrieved August 5, 2008 – via LionKing.org.
  4. ↑ "All-Time Worldwide Box Office". Internet Movie Database. Retrieved 17 September 2006.
  5. ↑ "Academy Awards, USA: 1995". Internet Movie Database. Archived from the original on 2008-12-19. Retrieved 2008-08-05.
  6. ↑ "SEARCH - Lion King, The". Hollywood Foreign Press Association. Archived from the original on 2012-03-03. Retrieved 2008-08-05.
  7. ↑ "Legacy: 22nd Annual Annie Award Nominees and Winners (1994)". Annie Awards. Retrieved 2008-08-05.
  8. ↑ "Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films, USA: 1995". Internet Movie Database. Archived from the original on 2008-04-23. Retrieved 2008-08-05.
  9. ↑ "BAFTA Awards: 1995". Internet Movie Database. Archived from the original on 2008-05-12. Retrieved 2008-08-05.
  10. ↑ "BMI Film & TV Awards: 1995". Internet Movie Database. Archived from the original on 2007-01-20. Retrieved 2008-08-05.
  11. ↑ "Grammy Awards: 1995". Internet Movie Database. Archived from the original on 2006-10-24. Retrieved 2008-08-05.
  12. ↑ "MTV Movie Awards: 1995". Internet Movie Database. Archived from the original on 2008-03-24. Retrieved 2008-08-05.
  13. ↑ "Kids' Choice Awards, USA: 1995". Internet Movie Database. Archived from the original on 2007-01-11. Retrieved 2007-08-05.
  14. ↑ Hong, Peter (2002-05-19). "The Lion King/Kimba controversy". Los Angeles Times. pp. L4. Archived from the original on 2011-06-04. Retrieved 2009-11-14.
  15. ↑ "Disney settles Lion song. dispute". BBC news. Retrieved 31 August 2006.[permanent dead link]
  16. ↑ Staff (24 February 2006). "Film Comment Selects 2006". Slant Magazine.
  17. ↑ Nidal al-Mughrabi (September 4, 2007). "Hamas "Lion King" cartoon re-enacts Gaza takeover". Reuters. Retrieved 2007-11-14.
  18. ↑ "Hamas battle cartoon mimics "Lion King"". International Herald Tribune. 2007-08-24. Retrieved 2007-12-24.

Other websites

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Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: The Lion King
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