History Trivia / TheLionKing

* WorkingTitle: Before it was released, the film was originally called ''King of the Jungle''. This was scrapped when someone pointed out that, well, ''lions don't live in the jungle''.

* TroubledProduction:
** A director fell out due to conflicts with the creative team. The script needed much fine-tuning. And the Northridge earthquake hit Los Angeles during the final months of production, forcing the animators to work at home.
** Cheech Marin said once that he doesn't remember exactly when he recorded his dialogue for Banzai, but he said it had to have been still TheEighties. He also said that by the time the movie finally came out, he had ''forgotten he was even in it!''

* CutSong: There are quite a few. A song for Mufasa to sing called "To Be King", a song for Sarabi titled "The Lion in the Moon", a reprise of "Be Prepared" and "Warthog Rhapsody", which was the original "Hakuna Matata" and was reworked for the midquel. Some of the songs cut from the original film, like "He Lives In You" and "The Madness of King Scar", made their way into the Broadway musical and/or sequel. Additionally, a "work in progress" trailer that was attached to the beginning of Disney's ''Disney/TheFoxAndTheHound'' Walt Disney Classics video had a snippet of a different version of "Can You Feel The Love Tonight", which the ''Lion King'' Deluxe Laserdisc included in its entirety. Unfortunately, only a few of these songs made it onto the later releases' bonus features, and only "Warthog Rhapsody" made it onto the Walt Disney Records Legacy Collection's 2014 reissue of the soundtrack. KeepCirculatingTheTapes indeed.

** HeinousHyena

* WhatCouldHaveBeen:
** DummiedOut sprites for the "Simba's Destiny" level reveal that the monkeys were originally going to [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar throw feces]], but they were changed to rocks after Disney execs complained.

* CutSong: There are quite a few. A song for Mufasa to sing called "To Be King", a song for Sarabi titled "The Lion in the Moon", a reprise of "Be Prepared" and "Warthog Rhapsody", which was the original "Hakuna Matata" and was reworked for the midquel. Additionally, a "work in progress" trailer that was attached to the beginning of Disney's ''Disney/TheFoxAndTheHound'' Walt Disney Classics video had a snippet of a different version of "Can You Feel The Love Tonight", which the ''Lion King'' Deluxe Laserdisc included in its entirety. Unfortunately, only a few of these songs made it onto the later releases' bonus features, and only "Warthog Rhapsody" made it onto the Walt Disney Records Legacy Collection's 2014 reissue of the soundtrack. KeepCirculatingTheTapes indeed.

** The film that started the trend of hiring [[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters a slew]] of name actors for an animated film rather than less well known voiceover specialists. Though it is not [[WesternAnimation/TransformersTheMovie the first]] to do so, it ''is'' the most successful movie in the Disney animated canon for a ''reason'' and this was a big part of it. In all, you have Creator/MatthewBroderick and Jonathan Taylor Thomas[[note]]who was one of the biggest child actors at the time[[/note]] as Simba, Creator/JamesEarlJones as Mufasa, Creator/JeremyIrons as Scar, Moira Kelly as Nala, Creator/NathanLane as Timon, Creator/RowanAtkinson as Zazu, Creator/WhoopiGoldberg as Shenzi, and Cheech Marin as Banzai.

* ActorAllusion:
** Creator/JamesEarlJones and Madge Sinclair played an African king and queen in ''Film/ComingToAmerica'' as well. Jones voicing the father of the protagonist also brings to mind his [[Franchise/StarWars most famous role]].
** Zazu is a royal advisor played by Creator/RowanAtkinson. This was apparently because Tim Rice is a fan of ''Series/{{Blackadder}}''.
** When Scar says "You have ''no'' idea," in response to Simba telling him he's weird, it's said with the exact same intonation as when Claus von Bülow says it in ''Film/ReversalOfFortune''. Both characters were played by Creator/JeremyIrons.
** The singing voice for Adult Simba is Joseph Williams, better known as one of the (and still current) lead singers of the band Music/{{Toto}}, whose SignatureSong is...wait for it...[[HilariousInHindsight "Africa"]]. Even better, a number of lyrics from the song are rather startlingly relevant to the plot of the film/Simba's emotional arc: "I stopped an old man along the way/Hoping to find some long forgotten words or ancient melodies/He turned to me as if to say, 'Hurry boy, it's waiting there for you'"; "I know that I must do what's right/As sure as Kilimanjaro rises like Olympus above the Serengeti/I seek to cure what's deep inside, frightened of this thing that I've become."

* RoleReprisal: Surprisingly, per word of the games lead artist, Creator/JamesEarlJones briefly returned to rerecord one of Mufasa's lines just for the game. Most surprising is that James Earl Jones, who was ''the'' most expensive actor in Hollywood to hire at the time, did it for free.

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** The film that started the trend of hiring [[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters a slew]] of name actors for an animated film rather than less well known voiceover specialists. Though it is not [[WesternAnimation/TransformersTheMovie the first]] to do so, it ''is'' the most successful movie in the Disney animated canon for a ''reason'' and this was a big part of it. In all, you have Creator/MatthewBroderick and Jonathan Taylor Thomas[[note]]who was one of the biggest child actors at the time[[/note]] as Simba, Creator/JamesEarlJones as Mufasa, Creator/JeremyIrons as Scar, Moira Kelly as Nala, Nathan Lane as Timon, Creator/RowanAtkinson as Zazu, Creator/WhoopiGoldberg as Shenzi, and Cheech Marin as Banzai.

* LimitedSpecialCollectorsUltimateEdition: In 2014, the year of ''The Lion King'''s [[MilestoneCelebration 20th anniversary]], Walt Disney Records released a 2-Disc version of the soundtrack, to kick off the high-end Legacy Collection line. This marked the first official release of the complete score, and also contains some instrumental demos, Elton John's pop versions of some ''TLK'' tunes, and two songs not included in the original theatrical cut[[note]]the CutSong "Warthog Rhapsody", and "The Morning Report", a number transferred from the Broadway musical to the movie's 2003 Platinum Edition DVD and VHS, then removed again for the 2011 3D conversion[[/note]], all packaged inside a digibook of concept art, lyrics, and production notes from Don Hahn.

* DVDCommentary: The Deluxe [=LaserDisc=] includes one by Roger Allers, Rob Minkoff, and Don Hahn, the first commentary ever provided for a Disney movie. It accompanied ''TLK'' again on almost all of its subsequent home video re-releases.

** The film that started the trend of hiring [[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters a slew]] of name actors for an animated film rather than less well known voiceover specialists. Though it is not [[WesternAnimation/TransformersTheMovie the first]] to do so, it ''is'' the most successful movie in the Disney animated canon for a ''reason'' and this was a big part of it.

* LimitedSpecialCollectorsUltimateEdition: In 2014, the year of ''The Lion King'''s [[MilestoneCelebration 20th anniversary]], Walt Disney Records released a 2-Disc version of the soundtrack, to kick off the high-end Legacy Collection line. This marked the first official release of the complete score, and also contains some instrumental demos, the CutSong "Warthog Rhapsody", and Elton John's pop versions of some ''TLK'' tunes, all packaged inside a digibook of concept art, lyrics, and production notes from Don Hahn.

** Creator/WhoopiGoldberg, normally associated with playing sympathetic, wise and/or funny characters and the {{Trope Namer|s}} for the WhoopiEpiphanySpeech, does the voice of a malevolent and thuggish hyena.

* This film provides the page quote for:

** A director fell out due to conflicts with the creative team. The script needed much fine-tuning. And an earthquake hit California during the final months of production, forcing the animators to work at home.

** The singing voice for Adult Simba is Joseph Williams, better known as one of the (and still current) lead singers of the band ''Music/{{Toto}}'', whose SignatureSong is...wait for it...[[HilariousInHindsight "Africa"]]. Even better, a number of lyrics from the song are rather startlingly relevant to the plot of the film/Simba's emotional arc: "I stopped an old man along the way/Hoping to find some long forgotten words or ancient melodies/He turned to me as if to say, 'Hurry boy, it's waiting there for you'"; "I know that I must do what's right/As sure as Kilimanjaro rises like Olympus above the Serengeti/I seek to cure what's deep inside, frightened of this thing that I've become."