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Disney's The Lion King During the early stages of development on The Lion King (then called "King of the Jungle") Disney was doubtful the film would turn out to be a success. Due to this they had problems getting key animators to work on the film. At the time Disney's top-notch artist wanted to work on "Pocahontas", which seemed like the stronger of the two films. The producer of the film Don Hahn recalled in an interview that "at the studio, nobody wanted to work on The Lion King -everybody wanted to work on other movies because it was this little African story about a guy who gets framed for the murder of his father, Elton John is writing songs, what the hell is this!" For month's director Roger Allers poured over the script. He tossed out key characters, removed several scenes, and tried his best to pull out a compelling plot from the twisted storyline. Finally he managed to put together a script he was happy with. Three out of the five songs nominated for Best Song at the Academy Awards Ceremony were from The Lion King. However, the song that won almost got cut from the film. "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" was initially rejected because they thought a heavy love song would slow down the film. Elton John insisted that it be included in the final release as of the film as he saw it as the best song in the score. So Disney devised a scene in the movie to fit it. Two songs however were cut from the film. The song "Warthog Rhapsody" was cut and then later added to the sequel. The other was to be an inspirational piece sung by Simba's father. In the end it had to be cut simply because James Earl Jones could not sing without sounding ridiculous. A Japanese anime series first aired in 1966 as been accredited by it's creators and anime fans alike as the inspiration for The Lion King. Disney does not recognize this, however they do have several similarities. The title of the anime is called Jungle King, very close to Disney's original title. Kimba is the main character of the anime, which is very close to the name Simba. The supporting cast both includes a talkative bird, a wise monkey, and a villainous uncle, with a scarred eye, named Claw. At critical points in the movie and the anime both main characters are standing on a jutting rock. However, Disney insists that the only inspiration for the film is Shakespeare's "Hamlet". A platinum version of The Lion King is scheduled to be released
October of 2003. |
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