Lion King, The, became one of the most popular animated films in motion-picture history. The Walt Disney Company released the movie in 1994. Disney produced the movie as a stage musical that opened on Broadway in 1997. The stage version became an international hit.
The story of The Lion King is set among animals in the jungles and on the plains of Africa . The central character is Simba, who begins as a lion cub who will inherit the throne of the Lion King from his father, Mufasa. But Simba’s evil uncle Scar plots against him and drives him into the wilderness. Simba gains maturity and a new sense of responsibility during his exile and returns to defeat Scar and take his father’s place as the Lion King. The film also features several comic characters, notably Pumbaa the warthog and Timon the meerkat.
Several well-known actors provided the voices for the animals. They include the American actors James Earl Jones (Mufasa), Matthew Broderick (the grown Simba), Nathan Lane (Timon), and Whoopi Goldberg and Richard “Cheech” Marin as two hyenas, and the British actor Jeremy Irons (Scar). The film was directed by the American directors Rob Minkoff and Roger Allers. It was written by the American screenwriters Irene Mecchi, Jonathan Roberts, and Linda Woolverton. Three songs by the British songwriting team of Elton John and Tim Rice were nominated for 1994 Academy Awards . Their “Can You Feel the Love Tonight” won the Oscar. The German-born composer Hans Zimmer also won an Academy Award for best original musical score.
The stage version followed the film story and added new songs to the original Elton John–Tim Rice songs. Human actors wearing colorful African costumes and masks played the animal characters. The production also used many puppets. The American director Julie Taymor won praise for her spectacular staging and for the sets and costumes she designed with Richard Hudson, a set designer born in southern Africa. A computer-animated remake of the original 1994 film was released in 2019.
