The Lion King came out a couple of months before I started kindergarten {stop doing the math!} so to say it was a defining movie in my childhood would be an understatement. I listened to the soundtrack {on cassette tape… I’m not that old, am I?!} repeatedly, played with my The Lion King figures that my dad gave me when I had to get shots for school {figures which I saved for my own children, and still play with to this day as a result}, and of course, watched the movie every day {although I did fast forward the stampede sometimes… my little heart couldn’t handle it}. All of this is to say that attending the The Lion King panel at the D23 Expo was a dream come true!
At the panel, we heard from Producer Don Hahn, Director Rob Minkoff, Animators Tony Bancroft and Mark Henn, Ernie Sabella {voice of Pumbaa}, Jim Cummings {voice of Ed} and Whoopie Goldberg {voice of Shenzi}! It was one big The Lion King party and it was full of old videos from the making of the movie {which totally felt like watching someone’s old home movies in the absolute best way possible} and lots of interesting information about the making of the movie!
The Lion King came out 23 years ago {!!} and now a whole new generation is seeing this incredible movie. So it’s only right that it’s now being released on Blu-ray in a couple of weeks! It’s also available on Digital starting today, so it seemed like the perfect time to share some new facts about this classic movie!
Some of Timon & Pumbaa’s classic lines were improvised!
Nathan Lane {Timon} and Ernie Sabella {Pumbaa} were in the recording studio together- and were one of the first pairs of actors to do that for a Disney movie! Their characters really had to play off of each other so they recorded together and even made up some of their own lines, which resulted in some of the most classic dialogue! In fact, Timon asking if he should “dress in drag and do the hula” was the result of Nathan Lane joking about it, and Pumbaa’s problem with flatulence was the result of a recording session where the pair kept pretending to pass gas after each line!
The iconic music went through a few iterations.
Apparently, Timon and Pumbaa originally sang the entirety of “Can You Feel the Love Tonight?” However, when Elton John found out he was not pleased. He said he had signed on to do the movie in part because he had always wanted to do a beautiful Disney love song, and having those two characters sing the whole thing kind of took away the romance. Luckily, Disney and Elton were able to find a good compromise!
On that note, not everything Elton produced was perfect on it’s first take, either. The original “Circle of Life” that he came up with was apparently not very good at all, but luckily after going back and working on it more we got the song we know and love that can bring goosebumps with the first note.
The movie almost didn’t get made.
The Lion King came out smack dab in the middle of the Disney Renaissance- that time from 1989-1999 when some of the most beloved Disney movies ever came out. A running theme with many of those movies was that they were mostly all retellings of classic stories- The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin… they all came from source material. The Lion King was something original and the studio was already working on Pocahontas, another Princess retelling, so Disney almost didn’t pursue the idea of The Lion King. Luckily they did- not only is the movie still well-loved but until Toy Story 3 and Frozen came along, it was the highest grossing animated film of all time!
Whoopi Goldberg begged to be in the movie.
One day, Whoopi met with Elton John for lunch and found out that Elton was working on the music for The Lion King. As soon as she heard about the movie, she wanted to be a part of it, and begged Disney to find a role for her. She ended up voicing one of the hyenas {Shenzi} along with Jim Cummings {Ed} and Cheech Marin {Banzai}.
There are new ways to enjoy the classic story coming.
In addition to the Digital and Blu-ray releases this month, there is a live-action movie in the works! Featuring James Earl Jones reprising his iconic role as Mufasa, Donald Glover as Simba, Billy Eichner as Timon, Seth Rogan as Pumbaa, John Oliver as Zazu, Alfre Woodard as Sarabi and John Kani as Rafiki, the Jon Favreau directed The Lion King will be released July 19, 2019!
There is also a sing-along version on the Blu-ray! Since The Lion King has one of the most iconic soundtracks of all time, it’s definitely the perfect movie for a Sing-Along!
You can get The Lion King on digital starting today, or grab it on Blu-ray on August 29th! In the meantime, catch some of the biggest highlights from the panel below:
[…] Ps. In case you missed it, you can find my recap of the The Lion King panel at D23 Expo here! […]