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The Lion King at 30: How Disney created a global phenomenon

It’s hard to understate its legacy but, back in 1994, executives had no idea of the magic that animators like Mark Henn were about to create

He’s sitting in front of me at an old wooden desk in the drawing room of London’s Covent Garden hotel, takes out his pad of paper and pencil, and his right hand – which now has a barely visible natural shake – steadies as he applies it to the page. Thirty years on, it remains a multi-billion dollar franchise for Disney: a live-action follow-up in 2019 is still the ninth-highest grossing film of all time, plus there are theatre versions in 100 cities across 24 countries, as well as the upcoming prequel Mufasa: The Lion King. Jeremy Irons’ performance as the villainous Scar is beloved Disney Enterprises, Inc Then George Scribner, the original director (and a Hanna-Barbera alum), left the film after clashing with Beauty and the Beast’s story head Roger Allers over the decision to turn it into a musical.

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