10 Times Movies Did Their Research (And Nailed It)

10. The Lion King

The original Lion King is one of the greatest movies of all time but, as detailed by The Ringer's excellent retrospective, its creators had to jump through more than their fair share of hoops to create the cinematic landmark we all know and love today.

With then-producer Jerrfrey Katzenberg telling the Lion King team that their movie was "likely to not be a very big film", the staff engaged their inner Michael Jordan and took it personally. Fortunately for cinema fans everywhere, this meant that they left no stone unturned in their quest to create history.

As well as taking trips to Kenya to capture Lion King's stunning Savanna landscapes, the animators immersed themselves in their subject matter by having real lions brought into the studio. Not only that but, to ensure maximum connection with the animals, the lions were uncaged as well. (Not sure what Disney's HR Department made of that decision, but hey, there's no denying the result.)

As anyone who has seen Lion King's still-majestic landscapes and impressively lifelike animation will attest, the team's hard work paid off. In the aforementioned Ringer article, Artistic Supervisor Daniel St. Pierre says that they shot the movie as if it were live-action instead of cartoon, resulting in a fusion of styles that has genuinely aged better than the soulless photo-realism of the 2019 remake (which sucked the joy from the original movie like a syringe draining the filling from a Creme Egg).