With the Lion King remake by Jon Favreau set to hit the cinemas soon, we take a look back at the classic 1994 animation. Over the weekend, the Disney timeline Lion King premiered in Europe. Beyoncé, alongside Jay-Z, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, and other members of the cast like Donald Glover and Seth Rogen were in attendance. The premiere took place in Leicester Square, London.

 

While the rest of the Circle of Life loving fans can’t wait for it to hit the cinemas, we went scouting for surprising things about “The Lion King” that would blow your mind. But, Hakuna Matata (no worries) because knowing these facts would just make you love the live-in action even more. 25 years later and we bring to you 25 facts about “The Lion King”. Can’t you feel the love already? Because we can.

 

15 surprising things you didn’t know about The Lion King

 

1. It wasn’t originally going to be called The Lion King.

Yes, you read that right! The Lion King went through different titles like The King of the Kalahari and King of the Jungle. Can you imagine calling your favourite childhood original musical anything but The Lion King? Well, producer Don Hahn revealed this fact and we like the result.

 

Producer Don Hahn said,

“When I first started work on The Lion King, the movie was called King Of The Jungle. King Of The Jungle was a metaphor for this allegorical story about human behaviour. We were thinking about the idea of how it’s a jungle out there and Simba has to exist in this jungle. However, there was no jungle in our story; they’re out on a Savannah. But then we threw that out because we wanted to focus on a simple story about a lion king. At that stage we thought, ‘Why not call it The Lion King?'”

 

2. The wildebeest stampede took Disney’s CG department more than three years to animate.

Although it lasted just a few minutes in the final film, it had such an impact. If you had wet lashes during that scene then it was worth the wait and patience.

 

 

3. Pumbaa was the first Disney character to fart.

He was such a trailblazer, right? His farting resulted from his peculiar diet of eating bugs. Certainly, you can’t blame him.

 

4. Sean Connery and Liam Neeson were in the running to voice Mufasa.

His famous “Taken” line “I will find you and I will kill you” may have worked for the role of Simba. However, changing the voice of Mufasa would have changed a lot of things.

 

 

5. Nathan Lane (Timon) and Ernie Sabella (Pumbaa) originally auditioned as hyenas.

However, they had such chemistry that they were cast for what we now know as the best duo in the Lion King.

 

6. Hakuna Matata (it means no worries), was never going to make it to the film

It wasn’t originally in the script. Instead, they were meant to sing a song about bugs called “He’s Got it All Worked Out.” “We couldn’t convince everybody that making the entire song about eating bugs was a good idea,” Minkoff said.

 

“Soon after, the research team came back from their trip to Africa with the phrase ‘Hakuna Matata.’ We talked about it in a meeting with Tim Rice—and that’s when the idea struck. I remember Tim saying, ‘Hmmm… Hakuna Matata. It’s a bit like Bibbidi-bobbidi-boo.’ A song was born!”

 

 

7. “Can You Feel The Love Tonight” wasn’t going to be in the final cut of the film.

We have Elton John to thank for this. After seeing the film a few weeks before its release, he encouraged the team to put the song back in the film.

 

8. The Lion King was going to end with Simba being thrown off a cliff.

That would have been tragic and nostalgic since his father died in a similar manner. He was going to survive but why make fans relive Mufasa’s death? Cue in the tears!

 

9. Scar was originally not related to Mufasa.

That would have scrapped the evil brother picture of him. The Lion King’s original script featured Scar as a lone lion, unrelated to Simba, who was in charge of a pack of vicious baboons. Okay, that’s not so bad but we like the evil uncle character instead.

 

10. It earned more than $968 million (Dh3.55 billion) at the time of its release

It is now the second highest-grossing animated film in history. “Frozen” dethroned it in 2013.

 

11. The opening scene was changed after the Director’s heard the final version of “Circle of Life”.

This was a groundbreaking decision as that same scene still resonates among many fans. Initially, the Lion King was meant to open with a dialogue introducing most of the main cast, but we like the final version.

 

 

12. “The Lion in the Moon”, a lullaby, never made it to the final cut.

The Lion King was supposed to feature a lullaby after Simba’s first encounter with the hyenas. It was a song about a protective lion spirit. However, it was deleted from the final cut.

 

13. A real lion and cub were used as inspiration for the animators.

Talk about passion! Several animators also went to Africa to study the movements of various animals.

 

14. There were more than one million drawings created for the film.

Say what! It was worth the writer’s hand cramp.

 

15. It was originally not meant to be a musical

Now that would have been a downer! Imagine never knowing the iconic songs that make you nod your head in harmony. The Lion King was meant to be a realistic, documentary-vibe when they were coming up with the idea.