LOS ANGELES – The king of cartoon cats is about to reclaim his throne.
“The Lion King” debuts Tuesday on DVD with hullabaloo more befitting a new movie than a 9-year-old flick. Walt Disney Pictures lavished painstaking care on the DVD, loading it with hours of extra material for children and parents alike.
Over the weekend, Disney staged a DVD premiere party at Hollywood’s lush El Capitan theater, shutting down Hollywood Boulevard during a celebration that included African musicians and dancers, a live lion cub, and Elton John performing songs from the film.
At $328.5 million, “The Lion King” had been the top-grossing animated film ever until this year’s biggest blockbuster, Disney-Pixar’s “Finding Nemo.” Factoring in today’s higher admission prices, “Lion King” sold more tickets than “Finding Nemo.”
Two years in the making, “The Lion King” DVD precedes the home-video release of “Finding Nemo” by a month.
A new version of the film with an extra song played in large-format IMAX theaters this year. This extended version also is debuting Tuesday on VHS, the first time since the mid-1990s that the film has been available on videotape.
The two-disc DVD set includes the original theatrical release of “The Lion King” plus the extended version, which adds the tune “Morning Report,” borrowed from the stage adaptation of the film.
The huge range of DVD extras feature background on three deleted sequences; commentary by Hahn and directors Roger Allers and Rob Minkoff; loads of set-top games; and music videos by composer John performing his Academy Award-winning “Can You Feel the Love Tonight” plus Hilary Duff and other Disney Channel stars on “Circle of Life.”
“There’s really something for everybody,” said Andy Siditsky, Disney senior vice president of DVD production. “Just like in our theme parks, we try to have an experience for the whole family.”
The set also includes a preview of “The Lion King 11/2: Timon and Pumbaa’s Story,” which debuts on home video in February.
In extensive interviews on the DVD set, the filmmakers and Disney executives recount the dubious origins of “The Lion King,” viewed by many at the studio as the B-movie to “Pocahontas,” another Disney animated film in production at the time. The studio was uncertain how the mythic, Shakespearean elements of the story would go over with audiences.
Unlike most Disney animated movies – which traditionally had been based on pre-existing stories such as “Cinderella” or “The Little Mermaid” and took a stage-musical approach to the melodies – “The Lion King” was a fresh tale powered by contemporary tunes.
“It wasn’t a fairy tale, it was an original story. It used rock music. It was animals without opposable thumbs,” Hahn said. “It broke the mold in so many ways.”
AP-ES-10-06-03 1450EDT
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