The environment was created entirely in CGI from reference materials such as high-definition photos of the African landscape. Scar survives the fall but gets attacked and mauled to death by the hyenas, who overheard his attempt to betray them. It's very difficult to capture something as subtle as a sunrise or rain falling on a pond, but those are the kinds of images that we tried to get. You are prohibited from copying or otherwise using any of the design, direction, choreography, artwork, or other intellectual property from the Broadway production of the Play or Film, Disney's Frozen, although there may be a general resemblance. Another that is still running is the live-action 30-minute musical revue of the movie, " Festival of the Lion King", which incorporates the musical numbers into gymnastic routines with live actors, along with animatronic puppets of Simba and Pumbaa and a costumed actor as Timon.

When Jeremy Irons was interviewed on Larry King Now on November 30, 2016, he expressed interest in reprising the role. The film features an ensemble voice cast that includes Matthew Broderick, Moira Kelly, James Earl Jones, Jeremy Irons, Jonathan Taylor Thomas, Nathan Lane, Ernie Sabella, Whoopi Goldberg, Cheech Marin, Rowan Atkinson, and Robert Guillaume. His role was changed into a female hyena, Shenzi, voiced by Whoopi Goldberg, who insisted on being in the film. He further wrote in his print review, "The saga of Simba, which in its deeply buried origins owes something to Greek tragedy and certainly to Hamlet, is a learning experience as well as an entertainment.The film will not be a remake of The Lion King II: Simba's Pride, the 1998 direct-to-video sequel to the original animated film. The Lion King won six Tony Awards, including Best Musical and Best Direction and Costume Design for Julie Taymor, whose unique incorporation of wildlife puppetry into the costume design remains unique on Broadway. Gaskill explained: "We wanted audiences to sense the vastness of the savannah and to feel the dust and the breeze swaying through the grass. Ejiofor said that "the comfort of [Jones reprising his role] is going to be very rewarding in taking [the audience] on this journey again.

The special Zulu dubbing was made available on the streaming platform Disney+ in October 2022, together with the Māori dubbing of Moana, and the special Arapaho dubbing of Bambi. Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times felt the film "is less of a piece than its revered predecessors and the first to have a core story noticeably less involving than its scintillating peripheral characters. Buena Vista Pictures Distribution president Dick Cook said the decision was made for such an approach because "we were all so taken by the beauty and majesty of this piece that we felt like it was probably one of the best four minutes of film that we've seen", and Don Hahn added that "Circle of Life" worked as a trailer as it "came off so strong, and so good, and ended with such a bang". To enable personalized advertising (like interest-based ads), we may share your data with our marketing and advertising partners using cookies and other technologies.We recognize that Facebook, Twitter, and other social media platforms are a great way to connect with friends and family. Turning off the personalised advertising setting won’t stop you from seeing Etsy ads, but it may make the ads you see less relevant or more repetitive.

By 1990, producer Thomas Schumacher, who had just completed The Rescuers Down Under (1990), decided to attach himself to the project "because lions are cool". Walt Disney Theatrical produced a musical stage adaptation of the same name, which premiered in Minneapolis, Minnesota in July 1997, and later opened on Broadway in October 1997 at the New Amsterdam Theatre.The successful 3D re-release of The Lion King made Disney and Pixar plan 3D theatrical re-releases of Beauty and the Beast, Finding Nemo (2003), Monsters, Inc.