Accidentally Correct Zoology: In the book series the protagonist is raised by a fictional ape species named "Mangani", which combines the physical and behavioral traits of chimpanzees, gorillas, and primitive humans. In 1996, in the Bili Forest in the Democratic Republic of Congo, a subspecies of chimpanzee was discovered that is larger than other chimpanzees and shows some gorilla-like behavior. The similarity between the Mangani and the "Bili ape" did not go unnoticed.
Adaptation Sequence: Adventure novel —> Disney animated movie —> animated series —> Broadway show.
Creator's Favourite: Burroughs' favourite among the various Tarzan artists of his lifetime was Burne Hogarth.
What Could Have Been: Before settling on "Tarzan", Edgar Rice Burroughs thought up two other names for his jungle hero: "Zantar" and "Tublat-Zan."
Creator Killer: Tarzan in the Lost City would be the last thing co-producer Stanley S. Canter ever did in the movie industry all the way until his death in 2007.
Franchise Killer: The failure of Tarzan in the Lost City would be so colossal that no other live-action adaption of Tarzan would be attempted for almost 20 years.
Dueling Works: Due to complex licensing issues related to the character, during the run of the Johnny Weissmuller films made by MGM, no less than four competing films and serials by other studios were released, including one starring Buster Crabbe, two starring Herman Brix, and another starring Glenn Morris. It happened again during the Gordon Scott era in 1959 when a competing Tarzan reboot film starring Denny Miller was released.
Star-Derailing Role: Coming hot off the heels of his starring role in Starship Troopers, it seemed that Casper Van Dien was set to be a new leading man in Hollywood. Tarzan in the Lost City was his next starring role and would end up being his last, as he was relegated to bit parts, series, or starring in straight-to-DVD films after it.
The Disney movie
Awesome, Dear Boy: Rosie O'Donnell had always wanted to voice a character in a Disney animated movie. She was happy about this film in particular because it places adoption in a positive light.
Cut Song: A few songs cut from the film were actually demo versions of the songs that later appeared in the film. One notable mention goes towards "6/8 Intro" which was actually Phil Collins' proposition as to how the music in the film should sound. Another one is "I Will Follow" which served as a precursor to "Strangers Like Me", but it sounds more like Tarzan is trying to make Jane feel happy.
Animator Ken Duncan has shared some unused animation scenes cut from the film, including Jane's original intro (when coming out of the bamboo, her dress is flipped to make her look pregnant) and Jane politely asking Tarzan to let her go in the middle of the baboon chase sequence.
Originally, Sabor was shown killing Tarzan's father at the beginning of the movie, but the scene was removed.
Dueling Movies: With The Iron Giant, though it was hardly a duel. This was mostly due to marketing, however, as Giant had a mere four months of advertising from an apathetic studio while Tarzan was being heavily plugged a year in advance. Things turned out better for Giant in the end, as it eventually became a massive Cult Classic, while Tarzan merely became a footnote in Disney's history (though it's become better thought of, being considered the last "good" film from the Disney Renaissance of the 90's).
DVD Commentary: By directors Kevin Lima and Chris Buck and producer Bonnie Arnold.
The US featured eight action toys note Tarzan, Terk, Jane, Tantor, Porter, Kala, Clayton, and Sabor and three character sound strawsnote Tarzan, Terk, and Tantor in 1999 to promote the film's theatrical release.
In 2000, a set of eight jungle playsets were released to promote the film's home video release. They could be used separately or connect to each other and run simultaneously.
The European promotion for the theatrical release featured slightly different versions of the toys from the USA set, with Sabor being replaced by Kerchak, and only the Tantor toy being the same.
Australia featured a completely different set of ten toys, with Flynt, Mungo, and a group of Baby Baboons replacing Tantor.
Like in the USA, there was another European promotion in 2000 to promote the film's home video release. This one consisted of plushes of Young Tarzan, Kala, Tantor, Sabor, Kerchak, Terk, the Baby Baboons, and the Snake.
There was another European promotion in 2005 to promote the Special Edition DVD release. In total, there were six toys altogether; three character bottles of Terk, Tantor, and Kerchak and three catapult-ball toys of Sabor, Tarzan, and Kala. Not all countries offered all six toys, and some only offered the character bottles.
Pop-Culture Urban Legends: It's commonly believed that Disney lost the distribution rights to the Tarzan franchise from the Edgar Rice Burroughs estate, hence why they don't talk about the film much nowadays. While it's true that Square Enix lost the rights to it (hence why the Deep Jungle level didn't appear in the later Kingdom Hearts games), Disney still owns the rights to this particular adaptation, otherwise they wouldn't have it on Disney+.
Science Marches On: The main reason Disney changed the Mangani to gorillas is because of this: Gorillas have been found to be the Gentle Giants of the jungle, and thus perfect animals for a Disney film. It even provides the page picture for the more accurate Gentle Gorilla trope.
The scene where Jane was ranting to her father and Clayton about her experience with the baboons and rescue by Tarzan, was improvised by Minnie Driver.
Likewise, much of Professor Porter's reaction to her ranting was improvised along with other lines such as "Oh, just like Aunt Isabelle" when Jane describes how Tarzan walks.
On a production level, the original plan was to just have Tony Goldwyn do the classic Tarzan yell, but he was unable to provide a satisfactory form of it. When the topic came up during a conversation between the producers and BRIAN BLESSED after production had wrapped up, Brian told them he could do the yodel, as he used to do it as a child. When the producers didn't believe him, he did the yodel on the spot. The producers were so impressed they canceled his ride to the airport and had him sign a separate contract for the yodel and record it right then and there.
The movie's climax originally involved Tarzan battling Clayton on a riverboat, which eventually has a fire break out. Tarzan would pin Clayton to an oil barrel while the fire approaches before leaving, and the ship would be blown up. This was scrapped because the writers felt that it contradicted Tarzan refusing to kill Clayton earlier.
Alan Silvestri was originally slated to compose for the film, before being replaced by Mark Mancina.
Although unrelated, an animated adaptation of Tarzan starring Goofy was considered in the early '90s; it's unknown if it was a short or a feature, but it was a spoof of the book series.
" which was actually Phil Collins' proposition as to how the music in the film should sound. Another one is "I Will Follow