The Lion King (2019 film)

The Lion King is a 2019 American computer-animated film directed by Jon Favreau and written by Jeff Nathanson. As a remake of the 1994 animated film of the same name, the film was released by Walt Disney Pictures on July 19, 2019. The plot follows Simba, a young lion who must embrace his role as the rightful king of his native land following the murder of his father, Mufasa, at the hands of his uncle, Scar.

Summary
Simba, the son of Mufasa and the Prince of the Pride Lands, hopes to follow in his father's footsteps. Mufasa's brother, Scar, plots to betray Mufasa and take over the Pride Lands, forcing Simba into exile, where he meets Timon and Pumbaa. Simba has to make an alliance, and rebuild himself fully to take what is rightfully his.

Cast

 * Donald Glover as Simba
 * JD McCrary as Young Simba
 * Chiwetel Ejiofor as Scar
 * Billy Eichner as Timon
 * Seth Rogen as Pumbaa
 * Beyoncé Knowles-Carter as Nala
 * Shahadi Wright Joseph as Young Nala
 * Alfre Woodard as Sarabi
 * John Kani as Rafiki
 * John Oliver as Zazu
 * James Earl Jones as Mufasa
 * Florence Kasumba as Shenzi
 * Keegan-Michael Key as Kamari
 * Eric Andre as Azizi
 * Penny Johnson Jerald as Sarafina
 * Amy Sedaris as Guinea Fowl
 * Chance Bennett as Bushbaby
 * Josh McCrary as Elephant Shrew
 * Phil LaMarr as Topi (credited as "Impala", which is probably his name)
 * J. Lee as Hyena

Development
On September 28, 2016, Walt Disney Studios announced that director Jon Favreau would develop the reimagining of The Lion King. The project follows the technologically groundbreaking smash hit The Jungle Book, directed by Favreau, which debuted in April and earned $965.8 million worldwide.

The Lion King builds on Disney's success of reimagining its classics for a contemporary audience with films like Alice in Wonderland, Maleficent, Cinderella, The Jungle Book, Beauty and the Beast, Christopher Robin, The Nutcracker and the Four Realms, Mary Poppins Returns, Dumbo, and Aladdin.

The Lion King (1994) is one of the biggest animated films of all time with a lifetime global box office gross of $968.8 million, including $422.8 million domestically. It won Academy Awards for the original song "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" (Elton John, Tim Rice) and original score (Hans Zimmer), plus two Grammy Awards, with the soundtrack selling over 14 million copies. In 1997, the stage production The Lion King made its Broadway debut, winning six Tony Awards; 19 years later, it remains one of Broadway's biggest hits alongside several other productions running around the world, including London, Hamburg, Tokyo, Madrid, Mexico City, Shanghai, and North America. Translated into eight different languages, its 23 global productions have been seen by more than 85 million people across every continent except Antarctica. The Lion King 's worldwide gross exceeds that of any film, Broadway show or other entertainment title in box office history.

In February 2017, it was announced that Donald Glover was cast as the voice of Simba, while James Earl Jones was also announced in the cast to reprise his role as Mufasa. Later in April 2017, it was announced that Seth Rogen and Billy Eichner would be voicing Pumbaa and Timon respectively. While in July 2017, Disney announced that John Oliver would be voicing Zazu.

In August 2017, Alfre Woodard and John Kani were also announced as cast members of the film and were confirmed to play Sarabi and Rafiki, respectively. In November 2017, it was confirmed that Chiwetel Ejiofor would voice Scar, while Eric Andre, Florence Kasumba, and Keegan-Michael Key had also joined the cast to voice the hyenas Azizi, Shenzi, and Kamari, J.D. McCrary and Shahadi Wright Joseph were also confirmed to be voicing Young Simba and Young Nala.

It was announced on November 1, 2017, that Hans Zimmer would return to score the film, in which having previously scored the 1994 animated version. It was also announced later in the month that Elton John (who also scored the 1994 film) had also signed onto work on the film's soundtrack as well before his retirement.

On February 9, 2018, Elton John confirmed he would be working again with Tim Rice on a new song for the end credits sung by Beyoncé. He also confirmed that four out of the five songs from the original would make it in the remake. On the same day, artist Aaron Blaise announced that he was working on a picture book adaptation by Disney Publishing. On February 3, 2019, Skyler Shuler of the DisInsider reported "Be Prepared" would be included as well.

Filming began in the summer of 2017 on a blue screen stage in Los Angeles, California.

Music
Hans Zimmer, who composed the 1994 animated version, would return to compose the score for the remake. Elton John also returned to rework his musical compositions from the original film before his retirement, with Beyoncé assisting John in the reworking of the soundtrack and creating a new song for the film titled "Spirit". Elton John and Tim Rice also wrote a new song for the film's end credits, titled "Never Too Late". Digitally released by Walt Disney Records on July 11, 2019 with a physical release on July 19, the soundtrack also features all the songs from the original film, a cover of The Token's "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" and the song "He Lives in You" from Rhythm of the Pride Lands and the Broadway musical.

International premieres

 * July 12, 2019 (Belgium, Finland, France, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Kuwait, Netherlands, Norway, Philippines, Sweden, Taiwan and United Kingdom)
 * July 18, 2019 (Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Colombia, Croatia, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, Israel, Malaysia, Portugal, Russia, Saudi Arabia and Singapore)
 * July 19, 2019 (Bulgaria, Canada, China, India, Mexico, Malaysia, Poland, Spain and Turkey)
 * August 9, 2019 (Pakistan)
 * August 21, 2019 (Japan)

Reception
On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 53% based on 384 reviews, and an average rating of 6.01/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "While it can take pride in its visual achievements, The Lion King is a by-the-numbers retelling that lacks the energy and heart that made the original so beloved--though for some fans that may just be enough."

Differences from the 1994 film

 * Some animals that didn't appear in the original film (either appearing in later media or never appeared in the franchise at all before the remake) appear in this film. They include aardvarks, bat-eared foxes, bushbabies, dragonflies, elephant shrews, grey crowned cranes, grey parrots, weaverbirds, and white storks.
 * Shenzi in the original, while the smarter one of the hyena trio, was just as comical and at times not particularly bright just like Banzai and Ed and had a southern accent, whereas here she is a much more ruthless, cold, serious, and fierce leader of the pack and had an African accent.
 * Aside from the name change, Banzi and Ed (called Kamari and Azizi here respectively) are much different compared to the originals, such as both of them do speak English fine whereas in the original only Banzi does while Ed's dialogue consists of nothing but manic laughter (with the exception of maybe the end of the original Be Prepared scene)
 * During the musical number "Circle of Life", there were several changes:
 * During the second verse of "Nants ingonyama", oryxes were seen instead of topi.
 * Rafiki brings red roots instead of his Bakora staff and also baptizes Simba with the dust from the roots instead of the pulp from the fruit and the sand that was next to him, as the former doesn't have any pigments in real life.
 * The staff was not seen at all until during the climax of the film where Rafiki grabs it and calls the stick "an old friend"
 * In the original, Rafiki hugs Mufasa upon climbing up Pride Rock, whereas here he greets Mufasa by touching his forehead.
 * The same thing repeats at the end when Simba is about to climb atop of Pride Rock to claim his place as king.
 * The mouse Scar tried to eat appears more frequently in the film where it tries to find shelter in Pride Rock and when Scar notices it where he does not pick it up and attempts to eat it and the mouse later appears during the end of the film among the other animals returning to Pride Rock. In the animated film, the mouse only appears at the beginning of the film and Scar grabs him and tries to eat him, but loses the mouse when Zazu distracts him.
 * In the scene where Rafiki is doing a painting of Simba, he uses bugs to complete the painting of it instead of gourd juice in the animated film.
 * The gopher that gave Zazu news about the Pride Lands was absent in the film. In fact, gophers are not native to Africa in real life. Instead, Zazu flies around to search for news happening in the Pride Lands.
 * The scene where Timon and Pumbaa sing "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" before Nala chases them is expanded into a short musical number, assuring their fellow herbivores that everything's okay and even sings along with the duo until Nala interrupted them.
 * Also, the scene where Pumbaa tries to catch a rhinoceros beetle was changed to Simba trying to catch it after returning to Pride Rock after Mufasa has Zazu to send him back before meeting up with Scar.
 * There are various changes during the musical number "I Just Can't Wait to Be King":
 * In the animated film, Nala only has one solo line and the rest of her singing is done in conjunction with Simba and the chorus. In the remake, she has more solo lines, many of which were originally sung by Simba in the original film, just like the Broadway version.
 * Three cheetah cubs follow Simba and Nala frolicking around the grasslands; this scene does not appear in the animated version; instead in the animated version, Simba pretends to be an adult lion by wearing a bush resembling a lion's mane while he roars at Zazu, pushing him into a muddy puddle and later flung by an elephant's trunk after using its ear to clean himself.
 * Simba and Nala rode on ostriches in the original film, whereas in the remake, they do not. Instead, the ostriches that Simba and Nala pass through start pecking at Zazu to save the spot for them, which happens after Simba and Nala run through a herd of zebras.
 * The scene where Zazu was standing on a log and falling off the river in the original film was replaced with him standing on a hippopotamus which suddenly submerges underwater and then emerges while Zazu flies away.
 * The famous scene during the end of the song originally included Simba and Nala standing atop a tower of animals in which the tower of animals falls to the ground with a rhinoceros falling on Zazu; in this film, Simba and Nala frolic across a large herd of animals with a flock of weaverbirds flying around Zazu.
 * A lot of changes in the Elephant Graveyard scene:
 * Nala acts concerned around trespassing there, whereas in the original she is as curious as Simba is.
 * Whereas the original only had three hyenas chase Simba and Nala, the remake has the whole clan chase them around.
 * In the original film, Zazu immediately catches up to Simba and Nala just before the hyena discovers them, whereas here, he arrives after the hyenas.
 * The hyenas did not launch Zazu in the "birdie boiler" geyser-like in the original film.
 * The cubs run through a cave and a series of tunnels, while the hyenas dig holes to block their escape routes, and when the cubs escape the tunnels, they get cornered by the hyena clan, instead of being chased through the entire graveyard of bones and trapped in an elephant carcass like in the 1994 version.
 * During the part where before Mufasa takes Simba, Nala, and Zazu back to the Pride Lands after surviving the ambush with the hyenas, instead of sharply berating his son for his disobedience and instructing the three to follow him back him, Mufasa simply gives a silent but disappointed look towards him before starting to head out with Zazu and the cubs following after him. Additionally, as the four leave, it was Shenzi standing on a ledge where she watches over Mufasa who saved the cubs instead of Scar who was watching over the hyenas who chased the cubs. Also in this film, Scar does not appear in this scene until after the scene where Mufasa tells Simba to look at the stars, where Scar plans to take over as king of Pride Rock to find more meat for them and the hyenas.
 * Certain scenes were changed during the gorge scene:
 * The scene where Shenzi tells Banzai (Kamari) to be patient on trying to catch a wildebeest while waiting for the signal from Scar was omitted.
 * The chameleon seen in this sequence was a different species of chameleon. In the animated film, the chameleon was a horned chameleon. In the remake, the chameleon was not a horned chameleon but a different species seen eating a dragonfly, whereas in the animated film, there was no dragonfly that the chameleon is about to eat.
 * During the part where the wildebeests begin stampeding across the gorge, the part where Shenzi tries to catch a wildebeest and fails to catch one is omitted.
 * When Scar comes to Mufasa to warn of the stampede, in the animated version they are near the gorge, but in the remake they are at Pride Rock. Zazu also doesn't note "the herd is on the move."
 * In the animated film, Mufasa saves Simba who is sent mid air when a wildebeest runs over the dead tree he is standing on. In the remake, Mufasa arrives at the tree Simba is clinging on while a wildebeest pushes Mufasa into the tree.
 * In the animated film, Scar smacks Zazu unconscious when he offers to go back for the pride. In the remake, Scar tells Zazu to get the pride while he "helps" Mufasa and Simba.
 * In the original, Scar tells Simba that his father has a "surprise" for him and tells him to wait in the gorge while Scar "gets" Mufasa, not before telling Simba to practice that "little roar" of his. In the remake, he tells Simba to find his roar here in the gorge claiming that the gorge is where Mufasa "would" often go there to find his roar when he was a cub.
 * When Scar makes Mufasa fall to his death, in the animated version, he tosses him into the stampede. However, in the remake, he smacks him in the face and pushes him down before he falls.
 * In the original, the three hyenas (Shenzi included) refuse to go after Simba due to a field of thorns that he escaped through being to dense for them and know that he won't survive long enough in the desert, so instead lie to Scar that they killed him and if Simba return they'll actually do so, whereas here Kamari and Azizi chase him off of a cliff and lazily assume that he's dead due to how high it is, and decide to lie Shenzi that they "killed" him, and therefore tell Scar.
 * Scar does not forbid anyone from mentioning his brother's name in this film, but strictly limits the conversations about him.
 * In the original film, Scar verbally and physically abuses Sarabi for "not looking hard enough" for food and narrow-mindlessly rejects her suggestion to leave Pride Rock. In the remake, he abuses her for refusing to be his mate and still chooses Mufasa, even after his death. The remake also implies that Scar deliberately orchestrated the Pride Lands' transformation into a wasteland by giving the hyenas first dibs over the lions on any hunts out of spite for Sarabi still refusing him in favor of Mufasa, whereas in the original film, it was simply due to Scar's incompetence in ruling the kingdom that this happened.
 * This could be from the deleted scene of the original, where Scar wants to have Nala be his mate, but refuses.
 * In this one, Nala is the one that suggests that they should leave Pride Rock, to which Sarabi is reluctant to because it is their home.
 * Also in that scene, Scar is also seen bringing an oryx carcass for the lionesses to eat atop Pride Rock in which they refuse to get food from him because of his tyranny of overhunting and destroying the Pride Lands.
 * The scene where Nala sneaks off and leaves the pride to find help and Zazu distracting Scar and the hyenas is based on Shadowland, a number from the broadway musical and a deleted scene of the original where Scar banishes Nala from the Pride Lands by calling in the hyenas, which leads to the "Be Prepared" reprise.
 * On a related note, the original movie has Zazu relegated to the role of a caged jester (and threatened to be fed to the Hyenas by Scar for mentioning under his breath that Mufasa was a better king), while in the remake, Zazu was exiled from the Pride Lands by Scar, presumably to silence him about Scar being present during he stampede should he attempt to tell the Lionesses, with the Hyenas being on orders to attack him if he even dares come close to the Pride Lands.
 * Rafiki knows Simba is alive when he found a piece of his mane which was first carried by a bird, then got into a giraffe's mouth which later carried by a dung beetle and finally picked up by one of the ants.
 * When Simba faints in the desert, in the animated film, he falls on his left side. In the remake, he falls on his right.
 * While the hyenas trigger Pumbaa by fat-shaming him with being followed by Pumbaa vengefully fighting off the hyenas are similar to the original. The differences here:
 * That whereas Banzai insults Pumbaa by referring him as a pig, Azizi call him chubby.
 * Pumbaa furiously responds with "I may run from hyenas, but I will always fight a bully!" as opposed to "They call me Mr. Pig!" before vengefully fending them off.
 * In the original film, Timon cowardly hides in the rib-cage prison that Zazu's imprisoned in. In the remake, he's with Pumbaa when they discovered they're surrounded by hyenas and asks Pumbaa, during the aftermath of his wrath, if that helped him confront his issues towards those that have judged and mocked him for his gluttony and flatulence problem.
 * When Timon says to Simba, "When the world turns its back on you, you turn your back on the world," in the animated version, he speaks it normally. However, in the remake, he screams it in Simba's face.
 * Whereas it was implied that Simba possibly collapses unconscious from dehydration in the original, the remake shows Simba proceeding his exiting the pridelands upon escaping the hyenas’ wrath until finally falling asleep in the dessert. Additionally the scene where Timon and Pumbaa escort him to a nearby watering hole and hydrating him back to consciousness after both agreeing to raise him was omitted, and instead, Simba wakes up just when the duo agreed upon keeping him.
 * Certain scenes were changed during the musical number "Hakuna Matata":
 * The song is preceded by a count-off by Timon and Pumbaa.
 * During Pumbaa's flashback, Pumbaa is portrayed as a red river hog piglet instead of an adult warthog, like in the original, and passes gas in the watering hole, contaminating it, much to the horror of a herd of zebras. Additionally, he also manages to say farted here instead of Timon immediately stopping him from saying it in front of a young Simba, which is followed by him passing gas (matching the tune to the instrumental of the song).
 * Timon and Pumbaa live alone together in the jungle in the original, whereas here, there are other fellow animals that live with them such as some guinea fowl, a bushbaby, some gazelles, an elephant shrew, a bat-eared fox, among others.
 * In that same scene, Timon hold a plate of grubs formed by a leaf for Simba to eat grubs in the animated film whereas in the remake, he hands Simba a caterpillar for him to eat without using a leaf.
 * The famous scene where Simba, Timon, and Pumbaa walk together on a giant log when Simba grows up was changed into different environments in the jungle.
 * During the scene where both Timon and Pumbaa are chased by Nala, in the original, Pumbaa gets separated from Timon by wandering off before the chase and gets stuck in a tree stump and Timon, who quickly catches up to him, unsuccessfully attempting to push him out. In the remake, the two get separated during the chase and Pumbaa eventually gets cornered into a wall just before Simba comes to the rescue.
 * When Simba and Nala reunite, Nala immediately recognizes him, unlike the animated film.
 * One scene unique in this film is when Simba adapts to having a new life with Timon, Pumbaa, and some of the neighbors where Simba toppled over a termite mound for Timon, Pumbaa, and their neighbors to have termites for them to eat. This scene does not occur in the animated version.
 * Additionally, the scene where Simba belches while the trio is stargazing in this version does tie into it by having Simba respond with "it might be the termites", which is followed by Pumbaa farting and saying "...or the crickets."
 * During the "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" scene, Simba doesn't jump into the watering hole and pulls Nala in with him, and the two go up to a high hill towards the end of the song. The song doesn't end with Timon and Pumbaa bawling, though they still sadly bookend the song while witnessing.
 * In the original, Zazu is imprisoned during Scar's rule, whereas in this remake, he is free, but hiding from Scar and the hyenas who harass and chase him whenever he is spotted by them.
 * In this film, Rafiki uses his staff to save Zazu from the hyenas whereas, in the original, he uses it to save Simba from the hyenas.
 * In the original, Scar did not necessarily mind not having a queen, but in this film, he wants Sarabi to be his queen.
 * When Simba plans on returning to Pride Rock to be the new ruler, the scene where Nala tells Timon and Pumbaa to know that Simba returned to Pride Rock to get to Pride Rock to stop Scar's tyranny was omitted. Instead, it features Simba running across a sleeping Timon and Pumbaa who notice Simba returns to Pride Rock with Nala returning sadly because Simba would not trust her until Simba decides to follow Nala's advice.
 * During the scene where Simba is running across the desert to return to Pride Rock after being told by Mufasa to take place as king, the song heard is not "Busa" which was in the animated version, but instead "Spirit" performed by Beyoncé.
 * The scene where Timon and Pumbaa perform their "live bait" distraction to help Simba and Nala get past the hyenas by performing the hula was replaced with a scene parodying the intro to the "Be Our Guest" musical number from Beauty and the Beast, with the hyenas chasing the duo before Timon can even sing the song.
 * Scar and Sarabi's argument in the original film was due to the few hunts the lionesses brought to the pride and Scar's overhunting, while in the remake Scar once again tries to make Sarabi his queen, while Sarabi tries to tell Scar the virtues of a true king. Additionally, while in the original film Scar merely hit Sarabi when she compared him with Mufasa, the two actually fought in the remake.
 * When Scar tells Simba his secret about what he did to Mufasa, the flashback where Mufasa dies during the stampede does not have a red background like in the animated film but rather slow-motion footage of the same scene where Mufasa falls to his death. Additionally, he latches on Simba's forepaws to reflect the moment he did to Mufasa.
 * In that same moment before Simba falls into a pool of fire, Simba bites Scar to pull himself up to avoid falling to his demise, making him upset of what he did to his father rather than pouncing on him like in the animated film. Also when Simba manages to pull himself up, upon discovering Scar's true role in Mufasa's murder, in the original, he forces Scar to tell the truth in front of the other lionesses and strangles him furiously when he refuses to, forcing him to do so. In the remake, he doesn't hesitate to call his nephew a liar and refusing to believe in Simba's truth-telling him he killed Mufasa and now plans to kill him; Sarabi, however, immediately sees through Scar's lies, when she points out that he "arrived to the gorge too late", and yet he said he remembered "the look of fear in Mufasa's eyes."
 * The scene where the lions and hyenas begin to fight was different in the original film. In the animated version after Simba forces Scar to tell the truth so the everyone in the Pride Lands could hear, Scar claims himself that he killed Mufasa, causing the lionesses to fight first before the hyenas attack Simba while the lionesses attack them to save Simba. In the remake, Simba calls Scar a murderer after refusing to listen to Simba telling the truth as he orders the hyenas to kill Simba and all the other lions as the hyenas begin attacking while Nala commands the other lionesses to attack.
 * Zazu was also present during the final battle fighting against the hyenas taunting them, while in the animated film, he is still caged until Pumbaa destroys the cage Zazu is imprisoned at.
 * In this film, Simba finds out that Scar betrayed not only him, but also the hyenas when Scar tries to shift the blame on them whereas in the original, Simba finds out that Scar only betrayed him.
 * In addition, when cornered, Scar spitefully declares that he alone had the birthright to be king instead of Simba in the remake, while in the original, he cowardly begs for mercy.
 * Also, in the original, Scar calls his hyenas the enemies shortly before his fight with Simba. In this film, he blames them far more harshly as he calls them revolting scavengers and even threatens to kill them.
 * During the confrontation against Simba and Scar, the scene where Scar leaps through the big flames was omitted as Simba bravely continues fighting him and eventually knocks him off a cliff. Additionally, Simba tells Scar that he cannot win, but Scar refuses to listen as he declares Pride Rock his kingdom and destiny.
 * After Scar survives the fall, he plans on taking revenge against Simba by building a bigger army of hyenas so he could become more powerful, but the hyenas reject his plan after overhearing him insult them about their constant starvation, fed up with his cruel deeds, including his lies (the only true thing he ever said being that "a hyena's belly is never full"), and turn against him. In the animated film, Scar thinks the hyenas are his friends, but Shenzi, Banzai, and Ed reveal that they overheard Scar betraying the hyenas as they plan to take down their leader.
 * Scar's death in this film is clearly more frightening than in the original. When the hyenas prepare to take out Scar for betraying them, Scar was actually seen briefly fighting for his life against a few hyenas before he is overpowered by the rest of the hyenas who jump on him, devouring him. In the animated film, he was too frightened to even fight back and ends up getting eaten alive and engulfed by a huge fire at the same time.
 * On a related note, the remake makes the hyenas' intentions to eat Scar alive as revenge more explicit by Shenzi echoing Scar's earlier claim of "a hyena's belly is never full". In the original film, it was only implied that they intended to devour Scar.
 * When Simba ascends Pride Rock to be the new king during the part where the Pride Lands are being revived, the scene where an antelope skull is washed away by the rain is omitted.
 * During the reprise of "Circle of Life" in the original film, Timon and Pumbaa stand atop Pride Rock standing alongside Simba and Nala. In this film, Timon and Pumbaa are seen standing on a rock along with other animals neighboring with the duo in the jungle instead of standing atop Pride Rock, though they still presumably become residents as well.

Trivia

 * The Lion King is the eighth of many remakes of classic Disney animated films released in the 21st century, following Maleficent, Cinderella, The Jungle Book, Beauty and the Beast, Christopher Robin, Dumbo, and Aladdin (Pete's Dragon doesn't count as it is considered a remake of a live-action movie).
 * In addition, The Lion King is the third of four remakes of animated films that Disney has slated for release in 2019, after Dumbo and Aladdin, and followed by Lady and the Tramp.
 * Aladdin and The Lion King, which released two years apart (1992 and 1994), both have remakes in the same year, though the former was released two months earlier (May) and the latter was released two months later (July).
 * This is the third remake of a Walt Disney Animation Studios movie that is from the Disney Renaissance, after 2017's Beauty and the Beast and 2019's Aladdin, followed by 2020's Mulan.
 * This is Jon Favreau's second Disney movie based on a classic Disney animated movie, after directing The Jungle Book.
 * The Lion King is both Jon Favreau's first musical film and first entirely animated film.
 * This is the first Disney's live-action adaptation that doesn't feature any human characters in the film, unlike other remakes, although one scene within the film is really in Africa.
 * James Earl Jones was the voice of Mufasa in the original animated film. He is the sixth actor to reprise his role for a Disney remake of a previous Disney animated production after Jim Cummings (who previously voiced both Ed and the Gopher and partially provided Scar's singing voice in the original animated film), Brad Garrett (both of who reprised Winnie the Pooh, Tigger, also voiced by Cummings since the late 1980s, and Eeyore, whom Garrett voiced previously in Animated StoryBook: Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree and recently in Ralph Breaks the Internet, in 2018's Christopher Robin), Nancy Cartwright (who previously voiced Pumbaa Jr. in the Timon & Pumbaa episode Never Everglades) and Patton Oswalt (both of who reprise Rufus and Professor Dementor in the live-action Kim Possible film), and Frank Welker (who reprised the vocal effects for Abu and Rajah and the voice of the Cave of Wonders in Aladdin, released two months earlier).
 * In addition to that, the film's teaser trailer combines James Earl Jones' archival and newer recordings for his role of Mufasa.
 * At 86, at the time, James Earl Jones is the oldest of the cast; he was 63 when he did the voice of Mufasa in the 1994 animated original.
 * Banzai and Ed are the only characters from the original animated film to be renamed due to being the only characters without Swahili names excluding Scar, whose name is a sobriquet, and Nala, whose name was created for the original film.
 * This film marks Sarabi's first full appearance in a Lion King production since the original animated film, apart from her cameos in the midquel The Lion King 1½ and two of the Timon and Pumbaa's Wild About Safety shorts.
 * This is the third Disney remake of a Disney classic to have its music score composed by the same composer as the original animated film after 2017's Beauty and the Beast and 2019's Aladdin (both of which are composed and scored by Alan Menken).
 * James Earl Jones, Hans Zimmer, Elton John, and Tim Rice are the only people who worked on the original animated film that reprise their respective roles, as the voice of Mufasa, the composer of the film, and songwriters.
 * In addition, this is the third remake to credit Tim Rice within its soundtrack after 2017's Beauty and the Beast and 2019's Aladdin.
 * This is the second time that Ernie Sabella does not reprise the role of Pumbaa. The first was Disney's Extreme Skate Adventure.
 * Actors Donald Glover, who voices Simba, and James Earl Jones, who voices Mufasa, both had roles in the Star Wars Saga: Glover plays young Lando Calrissian in Solo while Jones voices Darth Vader in the the main Star Wars films (except the sequel trilogy) that featured him and reprised the role in Rogue One.
 * Chiwetel Ejiofor who voices Scar, Alfre Woodard who voices Sarabi, and Hans Zimmer previously collaborated in the Academy Award winning film, 12 Years a Slave.
 * Donald Glover and John Oliver have collaborated together in the NBC series, Community.
 * This is the second movie collaboration between Donald Glover and Chiwetel Ejiofor after The Martian.
 * Chiwetel Ejiofor previously collaborated with the original voice actor of Zazu, Rowan Atkinson, in Love Actually and its television short film sequel, Red Nose Day Actually.
 * On Love Actually, Ejiofor has also worked with Emma Thompson, who portrayed Mrs. Potts in the 2017 live-action adaptation of Beauty and the Beast.
 * The scene where Timon and Pumbaa refer to Zazu as a puppet upon their introduction to him might be a call back to his portrayal in the Broadway musical through puppetry. His design is similar in appearance to the Broadway version with a notable feature of white feathers as opposed to the blue ones from the original.
 * When Simba and Nala are cornered in the elephant graveyard by the hyenas, the roar Simba does to show his bravery is the same roar that Simba does to the lizard just before the stampede from the original film.
 * The voice of Simba in the original, Matthew Broderick, and the voice of Zazu in the remake, John Oliver, have both collaborated together in the Paramount/Nickelodeon film, Wonder Park, which came out five months prior.
 * Billy Eichner who voices Timon and Keegan-Michael Key who voices Kamari, previously worked together in The Angry Birds Movie.
 * This is the second Disney film to feature the voice of Keegan-Michael Key in a same year, following his voice role of Ducky in Toy Story 4.
 * Both Seth Rogen and Hans Zimmer have worked in the Kung Fu Panda franchise, Rogen voiced Master Mantis while Zimmer did the score of the first two films with fellow composer John Powell and did the score for the third movie on his own, due to Powell’s scheduling conflicts.
 * Seth Rogen (who voices Pumbaa) appears as a guest in an episode of The Eric Andre Show to which the titular host voiced Azizi, and in one episode he also roasts Beyonce (who voices Nala) in one of his monologues.
 * This is the first remake of a Disney Animated Canon film and the third Disney film overall after Toy Story 4 and Frozen II to be streamed on Disney+.
 * This film uses the same 2D animated variant of the 2006 Walt Disney Pictures logo from 2016's The Jungle Book, only the logo does not zoom out at the end this time.
 * This film is also the first remake of an animated Disney movie to feature the full closing logo at the end. Previous films had the short closing logo.
 * This is the first time the end credits song for the original Disney animated film is not the end credits song for a Disney remake; the songs Never Too Late, He Lives in You, and Mbube replace Can You Feel the Love Tonight as this film's end credits songs.
 * This film marks the first time Pharrell Williams has collaborated with Disney on a film; he served as the producer for five songs.
 * Shahadi Wright Joseph previously played young Nala in the Broadway musical version when she was six years old. She is the second actor to reprise her role in both a Broadway musical and in a Disney film after Jonathan Freeman (who played Jafar in the Disney animated film Aladdin and its Broadway musical).
 * Jon Favreau, Donald Glover, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Alfre Woodard, John Kani, and Florence Kasumba all have roles in the Marvel Cinematic Universe: Favreau directed two Iron Man films and plays Happy Hogan as well serves as the executive producer to a majority of the films in the MCU, Glover plays Aaron Davis, Ejiofor plays Baron Mordo, Woodard plays Mariah Dillard as well as Miriam Sharpe in a cameo role, while Kani and Kasumba portray T'Chaka and Ayo, respectively.