10 Interesting Facts About The Making Of The Lion King
1. Disney Thought Pocahontas Would Be More Successful
Since it was released, The Lion King has been lavished with unanimous praise. But – ironically enough – Disney didn’t think the movie would be a big hit.
They actually expected Pocahontas (which was made concurrently with The Lion King) to be more successful because it was a romantic story that was more consistent with other successful Disney movies, such as The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast.
According to producer Don Hahn, The Lion King was seen as a bit of an experiment:
“On The Lion King, we were always referred to as the B-movie, because it was a great risk. Doing a movie about Africa, doing a movie with no humans. A movie with Elton John, who hadn’t really written a musical before. It was seen as an experiment, a branch out into new territory.”
Even Jeffrey Katzenberg (the Disney chairman) didn’t expect the film to break the $50-million mark. His expectations were shattered when The Lion King became the highest-grossing film of the year, raking in $750 million.
Pocahontas, on the other hand, received a mixed response from critics and earned around $350 million at the box office. It was still a financial success, but it made significantly less than The Lion King.