Fantel, Hans (June 12, 1994). "Technology; Cinema Sound Gets a Digital Life". The New York Times. Archived from the original on March 9, 2014 . Retrieved April 5, 2014. Takayuki Matsutani, the president of Tezuka Productions which created Kimba the White Lion, said in 1994 that "quite a few staff of our company saw a preview of The Lion King, discussed this subject and came to the conclusion that you cannot avoid having these similarities as long as you use animals as characters and try to draw images out of them". [219] Yoshihiro Shimizu of Tezuka Productions has refuted rumors that the studio was paid hush money by Disney and stated that they have no interest in suing Disney, explaining that "we think it's a totally different story". Shimizu further explained that they rejected urges from some American lawyers to sue because "we're a small, weak company... Disney's lawyers are among the top twenty in the world!" [220] Tezuka's family and Tezuka Productions never pursued litigation. [221]

Vadeboncoeur, Joan (January 8, 1995). "Critically Acclaimed Best Movies of '94 Include Works from Tarantino, Burton, Demme, Redford, Disney and Speilberg". Syracuse Herald American (Finaled.). p.16. Top Weekend Theater Averages". Box Office Mojo. Archived from the original on September 19, 2011 . Retrieved September 26, 2011. Subers, Ray (September 16, 2011). "Friday Report: 'Lion King' Pounces on Weak Field". Box Office Mojo. Archived from the original on December 16, 2018. a b c d e The Lion King — Audio Commentary (LaserDisc). Roger Allers, Don Hahn, Rob Minkoff. Walt Disney Home Entertainment. 1995. {{ cite AV media}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) ( link) Tagging a friend, somebody else tagged a friend and wrote: 'Might have to invest this year and we can be cuddle buddles.'a b c Kallay, William (December 2002). "The Lion King: The IMAX Experience". In 70mm. Archived from the original on April 12, 2014 . Retrieved March 12, 2009. But the new Disney movie didn't make everyone happy. We've covered the original writers' grievances with how they get no credit on the story, but now some new victims have stepped forward.

a b Subers, Ray (September 19, 2011). "Weekend Report: 'Lion King' Regains Box Office Crown". Box Office Mojo. Archived from the original on April 3, 2014 . Retrieved April 5, 2014. Neuwirth, Allan (2003). Makin' Toons: Inside the Most Popular Animated TV Shows and Movies. Skyhorse Publishing. ISBN 978-1-58115-269-2.Because the characters were not anthropomorphized, all the animators had to learn to draw four-legged animals, and the story and character development was done through the use of longer shots following the characters. [22] The Lion King (1994)". Metacritic. Fandom, Inc. Archived from the original on September 14, 2010 . Retrieved December 12, 2020. Primark shoppers are rushing to stores for an Oodie 'dupe' that's this season's cosy 'must-have' and it's perfect for the coming cooler months Following the success of the Māori dub of Moana, a Māori version of The Lion King was announced in 2021, and released theatrically on June 23, 2022, to align with the Māori holiday of Matariki. [87] [88] Much of the Matewa Media production team, including producer Chelsea Winstanley, director Tweedie Waititi, and co-musical director Rob Ruha had previously worked on the Māori language version of Moana. [89] The Lion King Reo Māori is the first time a language adaptation has translated Elton John's "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" for the ending credits. [85] Re-releases IMAX and large-format The "Circle of Life"-filled opening scene was so powerful that it was used as a trailer for the film. It marked the first time Disney had ever made a trailer using a complete scene. 4. The animals, and their relationships to one another, were different in earlier versions of the script.

The origin of the concept for The Lion King is widely disputed. [11] [12] [13] According to Charlie Fink (then- Walt Disney Feature Animation's vice president for creative affairs), he approached Jeffrey Katzenberg, Roy E. Disney, and Peter Schneider with a Bambi in Africa idea with lions. Katzenberg balked at the idea at first, but nevertheless encouraged Fink and his writers to develop a mythos to explain how lions serviced other animals by eating them. [14] Another anecdote states that the idea was conceived during a conversation between Katzenberg, Roy E. Disney, and Schneider on a flight to Europe during a promotional tour. [k] During the conversation, the topic of a story set in Africa came up, and Katzenberg immediately jumped at the idea. [16] Katzenberg decided to add elements involving coming of age and death, and ideas from personal life experiences, such as some of his trials in his career in politics, saying about the film, "It is a little bit about myself." [17] a b c d Daly, Steve (July 8, 1994). "Mane Attraction". Entertainment Weekly. No.230. Archived from the original on September 4, 2014 . Retrieved September 30, 2020. The Lion King (Booklet). Hans Zimmer, Elton John, Tim Rice. Walt Disney Records. 1994. 60858-7. {{ cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) ( link)

The wide release followed on June 24, 1994, in 2,550 screens. The digital surround sound of the film led many of those theaters to implement Dolby Laboratories' newest sound systems. [77] Localization

The Making of The Morning Report (DVD). The Lion King: Platinum Edition (Disc 1): Walt Disney Home Entertainment. 2003. {{ cite AV media}}: CS1 maint: location ( link) Hischak, Thomas S (2011). Disney Voice Actors: A Biographical Dictionary. United States: McFarland. p.106. ISBN 9780786486946– via Google Books. Steinberg, Brian (August 12, 2015). "Disney to Revive 'Lion King' With 'Lion Guard' TV Series". Variety. Variety Media. Archived from the original on August 13, 2015 . Retrieved August 12, 2015. Rafferty, Terrence. " The Lion King movie review". The New Yorker. Archived from the original on December 18, 2008 . Retrieved August 13, 2008. a b "Disney and Jon Favreau Joining Forces on "The Lion King" ". The Walt Disney Company. September 28, 2016. Archived from the original on September 29, 2016 . Retrieved September 28, 2016.The film’s first director, George Scribner (who also directed Oliver and Company), wanted the movie to be a sort of animated National Geographic feature and left the film when the decision was made to turn it into a musical. 15. Disney's most important animators chose to work on Pocahontas instead.