The Lion King
With the release of the live - military action remaking ofThe Lion King , Disney animation fans have once again been cue of theKimba the White Lioncontroversy . Over the course of 25 years , The Lion Kinghas become one of the highest - gross property in all of pop culture . The 1994 alive movie had the number two box seat office spot of the year and in the decades since has continue to grow to take the spot as the year ’s highest earner , the top - grossing traditionally animated plastic film of all sentence , and the well - selling film on home video .
The Broadway adjustment , which is the third - longest running musical in Broadway chronicle , has grossed over $ 8.1 billion worldwide , meaning it is the highest - grossing entertainment dimension ever . Thanks tovarious sequels , TV shows , merchandising , and various materials , The Lion Kinghas endured not only as one of Disney ’s most beloved icons but one of the honest Titan of amusement . The remake , sport cutting - border photorealistic CGI and an all - star casting , is trace to gross between $ 150 - 170 million in its possible action weekend . Suffice to say , The Lion Kingis a very big deal .
However , when it was first in yield , nobody could have predicted how hugeThe Lion Kingwould be . yield was troubled and executive atDisneywere convert their safest bet for succeeder wasPocahontas , which was being made at the same time . Once the moving-picture show broke box office records and won rave review from critic , the controversy did n’t stop there . It did n’t take long for fans to note striking similarities betweenThe Lion Kingand the 1965 gum anime seriesKimba the White Lion . The charge of plagiarism have haunted the film since its release . EvenThe Simpsonspoked playfulness at it in one episode ( “ You must retaliate my death , Kimba … er , I have in mind Simba ! ” ) The problems were made all the worse by how Disney to a great extent marketed the film as their first truthful “ original ” picture show , meaning it was n’t an adaption of a fairy - tale or classic story in the manner of their most iconic picture .
Kimba The White Lion Explained
Kimba the White Lionis an Zanzibar copal that ran on Nipponese television from 1965 to 1967 , based on the manga of the same name that was serialized inManga Shōnenmagazine from 1950 to 1954 . The manga was the creation of Osamu Tezuka , the Jehovah ofAstro Boyand author who is often pertain to as " the father of manga . " Tezuka was heavily inspired by Walt Disney during his formative years and was frequently compared to the American mogul , to the point where he was even address Japan ’s equivalent weight of Disney .
Kimbatells the chronicle of a young young carnivore , take over on a ship after his female parent was pin down by hunters and his father kill . After a storm bust up the ship and pour down everyone on board , Kimba is forced to swim to dry land and find a new home . The lion ’s portion of the series follows him growing up in the jungle with his mismatched friend and learning how to become a true leader like his father . Kimbahas been remade a number of times in Japan and the original anime was regularly shown on American television system .
The Similarities Between The Lion King & Kimba
Animation rooter have note the extensive similarity between both cartoons . That iconic image ofMufasaand Simba atop Pride Rock can be constitute in Kimba in a nigh - identical style . There are startling law of similarity in terms of characters too . Both stories center on lion cubs fighting to recover their rightful place on the throne after the deaths of their Father . Both have malevolent lions as their principal antagonist , feature salvia baboons act as mentors to the protagonists , cackling hyaena sidekicks , and comically hysteric birds . Both demise scene for the fathers are very similar , as are shots of the African field and the fauna move across them . Both film feature the protagonist attend up at clouds in the flesh of his father lion too , which was also parodied byThe Simpsons .
Did Disney Know About Kimba Before The Lion King?
Disney were criticize almost immediately keep up the release ofThe Lion Kingfor unavoidable similarities toKimba . The Lion Kingco - director Rob Minkoff dismissed such critique in an interview withThe Los Angeles Times , saying that it was"not unusual to have characters like a baboon , a wench or hyenas"in a story set in Africa . Both Minkoff and carbon monoxide gas - theatre director Roger Allers have take that they were unfamiliar with Kimba while working onThe Lion King , a point that has left many experts unbelieving . Animators Tom Sito and Mark Kausler , who both have news report credits , admitted to being devotee ofKimbaand had assumed many of their workfellow were too since it was such a part of their own childhood .
Matthew Broderick , the voice of adultSimba , admitted that he consider he ’d been hired for a remake or task that was now relate toKimba the White Lionin some way . He said :
" I thought he mean Kimba , who was a snowy lion in a toon when I was a little kid . So I kept tell everybody I was going to play Kimba . I did n’t really make out anything about it , but I did n’t really care . "
Mushi Production , the company behindKimba , never initiated any legal natural process against Disney for the similarity , and Tezuka Production stated that Osamu Tezuka , as a big Disney fan , would have been honored that his body of work had act upon the company . Disney insists to this day that The Lion King ’s self-aggrandising influence was Shakespeare’sHamlet . WhenThe Lion Kingwas let go in Japan , over 400 Japanese animators and cartoonists signed a letter of the alphabet inspire Disney to acknowledge and credit Kimba .
What The Kimba Controversy Reveals About Disney Originality
The contestation ofKimbahas last for all these years because Disney remains such a titan of pop acculturation . Indeed , sinceThe Lion King ’s release , their influence has only grown , as has their net Charles Frederick Worth . The Lion Kingalone has made them billions of dollar sign . In their current age of media dominance , wherein resilient - action mechanism remakes of those classical animated properties rule the roost and have redefined their brand , those questions of originality , influence , and possible plagiarism can not help but come along once more .
Disney have been heavily criticise for so many of their hot - military action remake being near identical to the source cloth . Given that these movies exist more to strengthen their pre - existent brands than offer anything new or creatively vital , it should n’t be too big a surprisal when thing like the 2017Beauty and the Beastmovie cease up being passing like , nearly shot - for - stroke to the original if not merely interchangeable . The purpose is not just to prompt audiences thatBeauty and the Beastexists , but that Disney ’s specific interpretation of it and all its steel - ready markers exists for generations to hail .
That demonstrate peculiarly frustrative when issues of plagiarism are on the line . Originality just enters the par as it is when we discuss Disney ’s remakes , but when the Kimba / Simba question is lift , the Ethel Waters become ever murky . At what point does “ brainchild ” become a full - on rip - off when you ’re brand and licensing those very images you ’ve been criminate of stealing ?
This is n’t the first meter Disney have face this job either . 1991’sAladdinwas likewise accused of heavily borrowing from another cartoon , Richard Williams’sThe Thief and the Cobbler . That moving picture has a very standardised plot of ground , characters , and aesthetic designs asAladdin . The trouble here is that The stealer and the Cobbler had n’t actually been free whenAladdinmade its way to theaters . Williams had magnificently spent decades working on the labor , to the item where it had become part of animation lore . When the film was finally released , it was a hurriedly put together tail of what it was intended to be , and Williams was not involved in the concluding product . Miramax Filmsreleased a variation of the movie in 1995 , titledArabian Knight , which was ironically accuse of ripping offAladdin .
Disney ’s bread and butter is pre - existing material , sooner chronicle with a universal appeal , that they can easily mold to equip their particular marque of story and lesson . You jazz a Disney moving picture the moment you see if , even if the taradiddle , characters , songs , etc , differ . It ’s what has made them such a powerhouse over the decades , and a companionship adored by generation of people in a way you just do n’t see with other Hollywood studios . Everyone get it on they did n’t createBeauty and the BeastorCinderellaorSleeping Beauty , but their savvy branding has made it so that the majority of audiences see the Disney adaptations of those tale as the default . That ’s why it matters when Disney callThe Lion Kingtheir “ original ” movie when there ’s such a glut of evidence to the contrary . It ’s not impossible that these similarities are just a foresighted and unfortunate series of coincidence , but there ’s a reason so many are unwilling to give Disney that welfare of the doubt . Given the popularity and influenceKimba the White Lionhas had on decades of animation , it ’s a disgrace to see it so often referred to as a mere footer in Disney ’s history .
NEXT : The Lion King 2019 Cast & Character Guide : Who Voices Which fauna ?
