The Lion King (2019)

Film Type:

Feature

Language:

English

Colour Info:

Color

Sound Mix:

Dolby Atmos, Dolby Digital, Dolby Surround 7.1, DTS

Camera:

ARRI ALEXA M

Frame Rate:

24 fps

Aspect Ratio:

1.85:1 (Flat)

Stereoscopy:

Shot in 3D

Archival Source:

QubeVault

Captions:

French (Open Caption), Spanish (Open Caption), Xhosa (Open Caption), Zulu (Open Caption)

Taglines:

The King Has Returned.
Be Prepared.

Movie Connection(s):

Dubbed into: The Lion King (Latin American Spanish)
Dubbed into: The Lion King (Telugu)
Dubbed into: The Lion King (Tamil)
Remake of: The Lion King Reo Maori (English)
Dubbed into: The Lion King (Hindi)

Filming Locations:

Trivia:

James Earl Jones, Hans Zimmer, and Elton John are the only people who worked on the original animated film that reprise their respective roles, as the voice of Mufasa, the composer of the film, and songwriter.

Beyoncé was being considered for the role of Nala. She is director Jon Favreau's top choice, she was eventually confirmed to indeed be taking the role.

Jon Favreau cast Chiwetel Ejiofor in the role of Scar as he had impressed Favreau after watching his antagonistic performance as Baron Mordo in Doctor Strange

Rafiki in this film is voiced by an actual African actor, being John Kani, unlike his original animated counterpart where he had been voiced by an American actor using a Swahili accent.

The title of the movie was supposed to be 'King of the Jungle' and the initial title was also 'King of Beasts', but Disney had changed the name realizing that lions don't actually live in jungles.

The first dialogue of the movie was supposed to be heavy and deep but the makers were so impressed with Hans Zimmer's theme music they went with that.

The music of the Lion King was so powerful that the makers decided to use it in the trailer as well, making it the first time that Disney ever used a complete scene as a promo trailer.

When Simba collapses on the cliff it doesn't say 'SEX' but rather 'SFX' as a nod to the art department of the film.

Pumbaa was the first Disney character to ever fart.

It took three whole years to animate Lion King's two-and-a-half-minute wildebeest stampede scene.

The line "You have no idea" was the same line Jeremy Irons (who had played Scar) had used in his Oscar-winning role as Claus von Bulow in Reversal of Fortune.

James Earl Jones and Madge Sinclair who had played Mufasa and Sarabi had actually played the role of a king and queen in a movie called 'Coming to America'.

The first script of the movie had Scar as a lone lion, not being related to Simba and was in-charge of a group of baboons.

The Lion King was the first ever Disney movie to feature an original screenplay and not an adapted one.

'Hamlet' was one of the inspirations behind the story line of the script.

Nathan Lane and Ernie Sabella who play Timon and Pumbaa had originally auditioned to be Hyenas. The casting director found them to be great together when reading the script lines that they just didn't fit as a group of hyenas and were a perfect fit for Timon and Pumbaa. Cheech Marin and Whoopi Goldberg were cast as hyenas instead.

Jeremy Cummings had played the third hyena when he also starred as the gopher who reports to Zazu, but more interestingly he filled in for Jeremy Irons for the last part of Be Prepared, where he lost his voice during recording.

A hyena researcher had sued Disney for 'defamation of character' for it's portrayal of animals in the film.

There was a song called 'The Lion in the Moon' a lullaby which was sung by Sarabi that was cut from the movie.

The song 'Hakuna Matata' was almost left out from the movie, and Minkoff suggested a bug song called 'He's Got it All Worked Out instead' which wasn't convincing. So the research team from Africa came back with the phrase 'Hakuna Matata', which ultimately became the song.

The Lion King is the highest-grossing hand-drawn animated feature grossing over $987 million. It became the third highest-grossing animated feature in general and 19th highest-grossing film of all time, and the best-selling VHS ever.

The Lion King was made at the same time as 'Pocahontas' which was thought to be more successful since the animators chosen for the project were the 'B-Team'.

Contrary to popular belief, Rafiki is not a baboon but is a mix between a mandrill and a baboon, as mandrills don't have tails.

A small yellow beetle found by Timon under a log has Mickey ears on its back.

Matthew Broderick who had voiced Adult Simba, thought he was working on a remake of 1960's Japanese anime show 'Kimba the White Lion' when he had read the script. Disney had denied any connection between the two films.

The screenwriter of the movie Irene Mecchi had joked that the movie was 'Hamlet in Africa with Bambi thrown in, so that it was a Bamblet.

Before Rowan Atkinson was finalized as Zazu, several other Monty Python members were considered for the role including Patrick Stewart.

Tim Rice had many versions of the song 'Can You Feel The Love Tonight?,' but the one Elton John recorded is the first.

The original idea for the final fight sequence had Simba losing to Scar, though Scar then died in a fire.

The opening lyrics from the Lion King’s ‘Circle of Life’ was sung in the language of the Zulu, an ethnic group of Southern Africa. The translation being “There comes a lion. Oh yes, it’s a lion.”

'Lion King' was nominated for the 77th Golden Globe Awards 2020 in the 'Best Animated Feature' category.

The 'Sprit' song was nominated for the 77th Golden Globe Awards 2020 in the 'Best Original Song' category.