193-663: Mufasa is a fictional character in Disney 's The Lion King franchise. A wise and benevolent lion, he first appears in the 1994 animated film as the King of the Pride Lands and devoted father to Simba, who he is raising to inherit the kingdom. Mufasa is killed by his younger brother, Scar , who murders him to usurp the throne. His death forces Simba into exile , but Mufasa's ghost later appears to an adult Simba, urging him to return home and confront his responsibilities as rightful heir. Mufasa
386-534: A "badass father figure", but Stone found him one-dimensional . Jones received critical acclaim for his performance, which Kaushal S. of Soap Central dubbed one of the most celebrated voice-acting performances from recent decades. Digital Spy 's Simon Reynolds said Jones brought the character to life "brilliantly". Film critic David Sterritt called him a standout among the film's cast, while Kate Erbland of Film School Rejects called his casting "both strikingly great and thuddingly obvious". Turner Classic Movies said
579-572: A New York recording studio. Much of the character's dialogue from the original film was also retained. The remake was one of his final film credits before his death on September 9, 2024. Actor Aaron Pierre will voice the character in 2024's Mufasa: The Lion King , a prequel to the 2019 film. Pierre cited Jones as one of his greatest inspirations. Jones described Mufasa as an authoritative but ultimately gentle father. Jones's staunch demeanor during recording sessions served as inspiration for supervising animator Tony Fucile. Fucile said Jones provided both
772-731: A cast of great actors. João Gabriel de Lima of Veja also called Jones the film's standout performance, writing that Mufasa would have been less majestic without Jones' contribution. Lex Pryor of The Ringer said Jones outshone his co-stars in the remake, despite his limited screentime and dialogue. In a rare negative review, The Independent 's Anthony Quinn found Jones's performance "insufferable" and "portentous". Several publications consider Mufasa to be one of Jones's greatest performances of his career. Calling Mufasa one of "pop culture’s most imposing dads", Noel Murray of The New York Times said that "Few other performers of Jones’s era could have made characters so vivid while sitting in front of
965-411: A father himself. The character has also been name-dropped in songs by hip hop artists Wu-Tang Clan , Nicki Minaj , Smino , and Waka Flocka Flame . Mufasa: The Lion King , a prequel to the 2019 remake, is scheduled to be released in 2024, and will focus on Mufasa's childhood, relationships, and major events that ultimately result in him becoming King of the Pride Lands. In this version, Mufasa
1158-519: A full-length compilation feature, The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh , which was released in 1977. Walt Disney died in December 1966, ten months before the studio's next film The Jungle Book , was completed and released. The film was a success, finishing 1967 as the fourth highest-grossing film of the year. Following Walt Disney's death, Wolfgang Reitherman continued as both producer and director of
1351-573: A ghost to give Simba a compelling reason to return to Pride Rock. The filmmakers extensively debated whether showing Mufasa's death on-screen was suitable for a children's film . Some writers suggested it should occur off-screen , but director Rob Minkoff insisted on depicting it explicitly, an unprecedented choice for an animated film. Mufasa's animation, supervised by Tony Fucile, drew inspiration from Jones's mannerisms and smile. Jones received widespread acclaim for his performance. While some critics and audiences initially debated whether Mufasa's death
1544-432: A good ruler later on". In 2022, Indy100 recognized Mufasa as one of the 100 greatest on-screen fathers, and Euronews included him among the "The 12 best on-screen dads of all time". Ranking him the best movie dad, Ryan Christian of MovieWeb described Mufasa as "the standard against which all movie dads are judged". GamesRadar+ named the character the fifth greatest movie father figure. The Daily Beast ranked him
1737-411: A gorge and orchestrates a wildebeest stampede, knowing Mufasa will risk his life to save his son. After rescuing Simba, Mufasa is swept into the stampede and struggles to escape. Reaching for Scar’s help at the gorge’s edge, Mufasa is betrayed as Scar claws his paws and pushes him to his death. Scar manipulates Simba into believing he is responsible for Mufasa's death, prompting the guilt-ridden cub to flee
1930-632: A groundbreaking live-action/animation hybrid directed by Robert Zemeckis , which featured licensed animated characters from other studios (such as Warner Bros., MGM, and Universal). Disney set up a new animation studio under Williams' supervision in London to create the cartoon characters for Roger Rabbit , with many of the artists from the California studio traveling to England to work on the film. A significant critical and commercial success, Roger Rabbit won three Academy Awards for technical achievements. and
2123-594: A king and queen couple in Coming to America (1988). The actor voiced the character again in The Lion King II: Simba’s Pride (1998) and The Lion Guard: Return of the Roar (2015). In 2011, Jones said he would often prove to younger children that he was the voice of Mufasa by saying "Simba. You have deliberately disobeyed me" in his character's voice. Jones was the only original cast member to reprise his role in
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#17328558881312316-471: A live-action remake "done well" that "improves on the original" and had no doubt that "it will become an indelible part of many a young person's childhood, and I can't wait to watch it with my daughter." Ann Hornaday of The Washington Post called it an "on-the-other-fin mixed bag of a movie that honors its source material with a big, color-saturated production, while never precisely proving that it ever needed to exist." A live-action adaptation of Hercules
2509-399: A long-time animation fan—to produce Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988), a live-action/animation hybrid that featured animated characters of the 1930s and 1940s from many different studios together. The film was a critical and commercial success, winning three Academy Awards as well as a Special Achievement Academy Award , and renewing interest in theatrical animated cartoons. In addition to
2702-451: A lower advance payment for each Oswald short. Disney refused and, as Universal owned the rights to Oswald rather than Disney, Mintz set up his own animation studio to produce Oswald cartoons. Most of Disney's staff was hired away by Mintz to move over once Disney's Oswald contract expired in mid-1928. Working in secret while the rest of the staff finished the remaining Oswalds on contract, Disney and his head animator Ub Iwerks led
2895-532: A lukewarm response at the box office and was a sharp critical disappointment in its initial release. Peter Pan , released in 1953, on the other hand, was a commercial success and the sixth highest-grossing film of the year . In 1955, Lady and the Tramp was released to higher box office success than any other Disney animated feature since Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs , earning an estimated $ 6.5 million in rentals at
3088-419: A microphone", while P. Ragusa of Consequence said the actor elevated the film's material, with his line delivery remaining "as poignant all these years later as it is necessary for the plot". Game Rant and Esquire Australia ranked The Lion King his best performance. Mary Kate Carr of The A.V. Club said the actor "imbued the character with such dignity and distinction", to the point where he speaks
3281-406: A modern pop soundtrack. Oliver & Company opened in the theaters on the same day as another Bluth/Amblin/Universal animated film, The Land Before Time ; however, Oliver & Company outgrossed The Land Before Time in the U.S. and went on to become the most successful animated feature in the U.S. to that date, though the latter's worldwide box office gross was higher than the former. At
3474-414: A more Broadway feel to it. Lyricist Howard Ashman and composer Alan Menken , who worked on Broadway years earlier on Little Shop of Horrors alongside now-Walt Disney Feature Animation president Peter Schneider (who served as company manager on the stage musical), became involved in the production, writing and composing the songs and score for the film. Ashman worked to have the songs stitched into
3667-609: A new distribution contract with Columbia Pictures . Powers, in return, signed away Ub Iwerks, who began producing cartoons at his own studio, although he would return to Disney in 1940. Columbia distributed Disney's shorts for two years before the Disney studio entered a new distribution deal with United Artists in 1932. The same year, Disney signed a two-year exclusive deal with Technicolor to utilize its new 3-strip color film process , which allowed for fuller-color reproduction where previous color film processors could not. The result
3860-427: A new generation - just much more visceral and violent". Variety 's Jeremy Gerard suggested that parents who remember being traumatized by Bambi should use it to gauge "who goes to "The Lion King"—and who stays home with the babysitter". However, Animation World Network 's Rick DeMott suggested that public's reaction was muted compared to the impact of Bambi's mother. Rob Humanick of Slant Magazine called Mufasa
4053-744: A photo of Jones holding a Mufasa maquette with the caption "Rest in Power, Mr Jones. You made a young animator’s dream come true when you accepted the role of Mufasa". Described by Isaac Williams of Comic Book Resources as "one of the most impactful moments of any Disney film", Mufasa's murder at the hands of Scar is widely regarded as one of the most memorable on-screen deaths in film history, with Radheyan Simonpillai of The Guardian writing in 2024 that it "still hurts 30 years later". The scene comprising Mufasa's death and Simba's gradual realization have been described as inseparable from The Lion King franchise. Vanity Fair ' s Laura Bradley said his death "became
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#17328558881314246-403: A pride's original leader and his offspring to assert dominance. Screenwriter Linda Woolverton described writing Mufasa's death as realizing they would need to make him "the greatest father that ever lived" for his death to feel particularly impactful. By the time Minkoff became involved, they had already decided Mufasa would die from a stampede, albeit in a less brutal manner. Death via stampede
4439-580: A regular basis, with many of the shorts divisions' personnel either leaving the company or being reassigned to work on Disney television programs such as The Mickey Mouse Club and Disneyland . While the Silly Symphonies shorts had dominated the Academy Award for Best Short Subject (Cartoons) during the 1930s, its reign over the most awards had been ended by MGM 's Tom and Jerry cartoons, Warner Bros' Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies , and
4632-571: A return to form, referring to this era in Disney history as the Disney Revival or even the new Disney Renaissance. Most films in the Revival use CGI animation to tell stories set in fantastical settings incorporating the Renaissance's Broadway musical style. Several crew members from the Renaissance returned to help create Revival films. Ron Clements and John Musker returned to direct The Princess and
4825-622: A scene from its first synchronized sound cartoon, Steamboat Willie (1928). Founded on October 16, 1923, by brothers Walt Disney and Roy O. Disney after the closure of Laugh-O-Gram Studio , it is the longest-running animation studio in the world. It is currently organized as a division of Walt Disney Studios and is headquartered at the Roy E. Disney Animation Building at the Walt Disney Studios lot in Burbank, California . Since its foundation,
5018-563: A separate "story department" with storyboard artists dedicated to story development. With well-developed characters and an interesting story, the 1933 Technicolor Silly Symphony cartoon Three Little Pigs became a major box office and pop culture success, with its theme song " Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf? " becoming a popular chart hit. In 1934, Walt Disney gathered several key staff members and announced his plans to make his first animated feature film. Despite derision from most of
5211-555: A series of silent Alice Comedies short films featuring a live-action child actress in an animated world. The Alice Comedies were distributed by Margaret J. Winkler 's Winkler Pictures , which later also distributed a second Disney short subject series, the all-animated Oswald the Lucky Rabbit , through Universal Pictures starting in 1927. Upon relocating to California, the Disney brothers initially started working in their uncle Robert Disney's garage at 4406 Kingswell Avenue in
5404-487: A small handful of loyal staffers in producing cartoons starring a new character named Mickey Mouse . The first two Mickey Mouse cartoons, Plane Crazy and The Galloping Gaucho , were previewed in limited engagements during the summer of 1928. For the third Mickey cartoon, however, Disney produced a soundtrack, collaborating with musician Carl Stalling and businessman Pat Powers , who provided Disney with his bootlegged "Cinephone" sound-on-film process. Subsequently,
5597-528: A total of five nominations. The Lion King earned two additional Academy Award nominations for Best Original Song, giving it a total of four Academy Award nominations. Between the two in-house productions, Disney diversified in animation methods and produced the stop-motion animated film The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) with former Disney animator Tim Burton , which was directed by also former Disney animator Henry Selick . That film received an Academy Award nomination for Best Visual Effects becoming
5790-432: A type of acting that still struggles to be respected to this day". In 2019, The Walt Disney Company inducted Jones as a Disney Legend in the "voice" category, for his "remarkable contributions to the Disney legacy". Many celebrities shared tributes to Jones following the actor's death on September 9, 2024, several of whom referenced The Lion King . Crystal Kung Minkoff , a television personality and Minkoff's wife, posted
5983-445: A version of Mufasa's death that included the line " good night, sweet prince " to avoid sounding "too self-conscious ". Animator Chris Sanders and story artist Brenda Chapman were responsible for the scene where Mufasa's spirit tells Simba to return home. Since it was one of the first scenes written for the film, Chapman wrote Mufasa's dialogue repeating "remember" to call back to an earlier moment when Mufasa scolds Simba for visiting
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6176-426: A vision of Mufasa emerging from the clouds". Actor Sean Connery was Disney's initial choice to voice Mufasa. Liam Neeson was also considered. Mufasa was voiced by American actor James Earl Jones . Disney claims that, once the character was realized, it was difficult to envision anyone other than Jones voicing Mufasa. Jones was drawn to the role because he was impressed by drawings he had seen of Mufasa and relished
6369-480: Is among Disney's most notable assets, with the stars of its animated shorts— Mickey Mouse , Minnie Mouse , Donald Duck , Daisy Duck , Goofy , and Pluto —becoming recognizable figures in popular culture and mascots for the Walt Disney Company as a whole. Three of the studio's films— Frozen (2013), Zootopia (2016), and Frozen II (2019)—are all among the 50 highest-grossing films of all time , with
6562-573: Is guaranteed to mention The Lion King , and Gem Seddon of GamesRadar+ ranked it the 20th saddest movie tearjerker. Nadira Goffe of Slate said, as "one of the first and most visceral main-character deaths we would experience", Mufasa "traumatized an entire age group ". Several commentators have documented that Mufasa's death was particularly impactful on millennials who grew up in the 1990s, with Rachel Paige of HelloGiggles saying that, to them, it stands above all other cinematic moments. Dougherty and Tyler Dane Wingco of Esquire Australia compared
6755-488: Is included in the line-up of films if either Dinosaur or The Emperor's New Groove is seen as the end of the era. Brandon Zachery of Comic Book Resources states that Tarzan is widely considered to be the finale of the Renaissance as it was the final film in a row of Disney's that, "still adhered to many of the era's standard traits, including multiple songs, cutting-edge visuals and celebrity cameos in small roles." Disney MovieToons , later known as Disneytoon Studios,
6948-469: Is revealed to be an orphan born outside of the royal family, and explores his relationship with Taka, the character who adopts him as a brother and ultimately becomes "Scar". ]][] Walt Disney Animation Studios Walt Disney Animation Studios ( WDAS ), sometimes shortened to Disney Animation , is an American animation studio that creates animated features and short films for The Walt Disney Company . The studio's current production logo features
7141-457: Is the reason why many believe other studios began to cast celebrities as voice actors in their animated films. Due to Disney never acknowledging an official timeline of films for their Renaissance, it is debated what film should be considered the end of the era. Some consider Dinosaur (2000) for its use of CGI or The Emperor's New Groove (2000) for its comedic tone to be the end of the Renaissance. Given its release in 1999, Fantasia 2000
7334-580: The Star Wars franchise. Comparing the two roles, Kofi Outlaw of ComicBook.com said that, with Mufasa, Jones successfully transitioned "from being a nightmare bad dad in Star Wars , to being the dad every young cub (human or lion) wishes they had". Peter Debruge of Variety observed that which character Jones's voice reminds fans of depends on whether the viewer was born before or after 1990. According to Morales, Jones's voiceover work also "brought credibility to
7527-416: The 2019 remake of The Lion King , the only main cast member from the original film to return. Actor Samuel E. Wright received a Tony Award nomination for originating the role on Broadway in the film's 1997 stage adaptation . A prequel to the 2019 remake, Mufasa: The Lion King , is scheduled for release in 2024 and will explore Mufasa's childhood. In The Lion King (1994), King Mufasa rules over
7720-403: The 2019 remake of The Lion King . The remake's director, Jon Favreau , was surprised that Jones agreed to return for the project. Out of respect and admiration for the actor, Favreau refused to give Jones direction regarding his performance, reassuring him that he already embodied the character. While most of the cast recorded together in a black box theater in California, Jones worked solo in
7913-527: The Bronx Zoo . He also received physiotherapy regularly due to the physical demands of the role. Wright's performance received positive reviews from The New York Times and Variety theater critics. In 1998 , he was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical . Outside of The Lion King franchise, the character has appeared in the television series Disney's House of Mouse (2001) and
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8106-577: The Disneyland theme park, production of the animated films was left primarily in the hands of the "Nine Old Men" trust of head animators and directors. This led to several delays in approvals during the production of Sleeping Beauty , which was finally released in 1959. At $ 6 million, it was Disney's most expensive film to date, produced in a heavily stylised art style devised by artist Eyvind Earle and presented in large-format Super Technirama 70 with six-track stereophonic sound. However, despite being
8299-718: The Donald Duck cartoons eclipsed the Mickey Mouse series in popularity. Silly Symphonies , which garnered seven Academy Awards , ceased in 1939, until the shorts returned to theatres with some re-issues and re-releases. The success of Snow White allowed Disney to build a new, larger studio on Buena Vista Street in Burbank, where The Walt Disney Company remains headquartered to this day. Walt Disney Productions had its initial public offering on April 2, 1940, with Walt Disney as president and Roy Disney as CEO. The studio launched into
8492-536: The Los Feliz neighborhood of Los Angeles, then, in October 1923, formally launched their studio in a small office on the rear side of a real estate agency's office at 4651 Kingswell Avenue. In February 1924, the studio moved next door to office space of its own at 4649 Kingswell Avenue. In 1925, Disney put down a deposit on a new location at 2719 Hyperion Avenue in the nearby Silver Lake neighborhood , which came to be known as
8685-428: The attack on Pearl Harbor , the studio housed over 500 U.S. Army soldiers who were responsible for protecting nearby aircraft factories from enemy bombers. In addition, several Disney animators were drafted to fight in the war and the studio was contracted on producing wartime content for every branch of the U.S. military , particularly military training, and civilian propaganda films. From 1942 to 1943, 95 percent of
8878-427: The highest-grossing musical film of all time , the highest-grossing remake of all time, the highest-grossing Walt Disney Pictures film of all time, the second-highest-grossing film of 2019 , and the seventh highest-grossing film of all time . The film received mixed reviews from critics, with praise for its visual effects, music, and vocal performances, but criticism for its lack of originality, and facial emotion on
9071-683: The ninth-highest-grossing film of 2019 . The film received mixed reviews from critics, with praise for its music, costume design, and the performances of actors, but criticism for Ritchie's direction and the screenplay. The third live-action Disney Renaissance remake became CGI remake The Lion King (directed and produced by Jon Favreau ). It was theatrically released in the United States on July 19, 2019. Hans Zimmer returned as composer, and Elton John and Tim Rice returned to write new songs with Beyoncé . It grossed over $ 1.6 billion worldwide, becoming highest-grossing animated film of all time ,
9264-581: The third highest-grossing film of the year and the most successful and best reviewed Disney animated film since The Jungle Book . The film was reissued in 1983, accompanied by a new Disney featurette, Mickey's Christmas Carol . The production of The Rescuers signaled the beginning of a changing of the guard process in the personnel at the Disney animation studio, as veterans such as Milt Kahl and Les Clark retired; they were gradually replaced by new talents such as Don Bluth , Ron Clements , John Musker and Glen Keane . The new animators, selected from
9457-435: The 16th all-time saddest movie death. In June 2015, the morning show Good Morning America tweeted a GIF of the scene depicting Simba lying beside his father's corpse after failing to nudge him awake. The tweet was intended to joke about the common struggle readers face attempting to rise out of their beds on Monday mornings; Good Morning America deleted the tweet two hours later, after receiving complaints that using
9650-521: The 1950s. Following its success, production on the in-limbo features Alice in Wonderland , Peter Pan , and Lady and the Tramp was resumed. In addition, an ambitious new project, an adaptation of the Brothers Grimm fairy tale " Sleeping Beauty " set to Tchaikovsky 's classic score, was begun but took much of the rest of the decade to complete. Alice in Wonderland , released in 1951, met with
9843-529: The 1959 layoffs and competition for Walt Disney's attention from the company's expanded live-action film, TV and theme park departments, production continued on feature animation productions at a reduced level. In 1961, the studio released One Hundred and One Dalmatians , an animated feature that popularized the use of xerography during the process of inking and painting traditional animation cels . Using xerography, animation drawings could be photochemically transferred rather than traced from paper drawings to
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#173285588813110036-556: The 1970s to the present. The Sword in the Stone was released in 1963 and was the sixth highest-grossing film of the year in North America with estimated rentals of $ 4.75 million. A featurette adaptation of one of A. A. Milne 's Winnie-the-Pooh stories, Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree , was released in 1966, to be followed by several other Pooh featurettes over the years and
10229-468: The Beast (1991), Aladdin (1992), The Lion King (1994), Pocahontas (1995), The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996), Hercules (1997), Mulan (1998), and Tarzan (1999). The films were mostly musical adaptations of well known stories, similar to the films produced by Walt Disney from the 1930s to 1960s . The resurgence allowed Disney's animated films to become a powerhouse of successes at
10422-551: The Disney studio. A bitter union strike began in May 1941 , which was resolved without the angered Walt Disney's involvement in July and August of that year. As Walt Disney Productions was being set up as a union shop, Walt Disney and several studio employees were sent by the U.S. government on a Good Neighbor policy trip to Central and South America. The Disney strike and its aftermath led to an exodus of several animation professionals from
10615-593: The Frog (2009) and Moana (2016). Alan Menken scored Tangled (2010) and was a composer for songs for Ralph Breaks the Internet (2018). The Disney Revival is the most profitable era in Disney animation history. Frozen , for instance, grossed over 1.2 billion worldwide. The film held the title of highest-grossing animated film, fifth-highest-grossing film of all time, and second Walt Disney Studios highest-grossing film (behind The Avengers ) in 2013. Frozen also
10808-537: The GIF in this context was inappropriate. Some online publications speculated that whomever tweeted the GIF might not have seen The Lion King or realized that Mufasa is actually dead in the image. After the African lion Cecil was killed by an American hunter in 2015, Aaron Blaise , young Nala 's supervising animator for The Lion King , shared a digital painting of Cecil's face in the clouds and borrows one of Mufasa's quotes from
11001-476: The Hound (1981), when long-time animator Don Bluth left Disney's animation department to start his own rival studio, Don Bluth Productions , taking eleven Disney animators with him. With 17% of the animators now gone, production on The Fox and the Hound was delayed by six months. Don Bluth Productions produced The Secret of NIMH (1982), whose story had originally been rejected by Disney for being too dark, and
11194-513: The Hyperion Studio to distinguish it from the studio's other locations, and, in January 1926, the studio moved there and took on the name Walt Disney Studio . Meanwhile, after the first year's worth of Oswalds , Walt Disney attempted to renew his contract with Winkler Pictures, but Charles Mintz , who had taken over Margaret Winkler's business after marrying her, wanted to force Disney to accept
11387-582: The London satellite office and retool the film into a musical-comedy format similar to The Little Mermaid . Alan Menken and Howard Ashman were retained to write the songs and score, though Ashman died before production was completed. Disney Renaissance The Disney Renaissance was a period from 1989 to 1999 during which Walt Disney Feature Animation returned to producing critically and commercially successful animated films . The ten feature films associated with this period are The Little Mermaid (1989), The Rescuers Down Under (1990), Beauty and
11580-521: The North American box office in 1955. Lady and the Tramp is significant as Disney's first widescreen animated feature, produced in the CinemaScope process, and was the first Disney animated feature to be released by Disney's own distribution company, Buena Vista Distribution . By the mid-1950s, with Walt Disney's attention primarily set on new endeavours such as live-action films, television and
11773-542: The Pauper , The Rescuers Down Under (1990) was Disney's first animated feature sequel and the studio's first film to be fully colored and composited via computer using the CAPS/ink-and-paint system. However, the film did not duplicate the success of The Little Mermaid . The next Disney animated feature, Beauty and the Beast , had begun production in London but was moved back to Burbank after Disney decided to shutter
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#173285588813111966-458: The Pride Lands alongside his mate, Queen Sarabi . Their young son, Simba , is destined to inherit the throne. Mufasa teaches Simba about the " Circle of Life " and the delicate balance required to maintain harmony in the Pride Lands. He advises Simba to prepare for the day when he will succeed him as king. However, Mufasa’s envious younger brother, Scar , covets the throne and devises a scheme to eliminate both Mufasa and Simba. Scar lures Simba into
12159-483: The Pride Lands, defeats Scar, and fulfills his destiny as Mufasa’s successor. In The Lion King II: Simba’s Pride (1998), Mufasa has a smaller role, appearing in the sky to offer guidance to Simba and communicating with Rafiki through the wind. The Lion King was the first film released during the Disney Renaissance to focus on a father-son relationship, rather than a romantic one. Producer Don Hahn described
12352-504: The Pride Lands. Lost and alone, Simba finds refuge in the jungle, where he is raised by the carefree Timon and Pumbaa , a meerkat and a warthog. Despite his relaxed new lifestyle, Simba remains haunted by guilt over his father’s death. Years later, Simba encounters Rafiki , a wise mandrill who reveals that Mufasa’s spirit endures within him. Mufasa appears to Simba as a ghostly vision in the sky, urging him to accept his responsibilities and reclaim his place as king. Inspired, Simba returns to
12545-811: The Sea (2000), The Hunchback of Notre Dame II (2002), Mulan II (2004) and Tarzan II (2005). The success of the Disney Renaissance attracted the attention of many animation studios and film studios. Major film studios established new animation divisions such as Fox Animation Studios , Warner Bros. Feature Animation and DreamWorks Animation to replicate Disney's success by turning their animated films into Disney-styled musicals. Examples of said musicals include Cats Don't Dance (1997), Anastasia (1997), Quest for Camelot (1998), and The Prince of Egypt (1998). Many have hailed Walt Disney Animation Studios’ theatrical film releases from 2009 to onward as
12738-492: The Sea ") and for Best Original Score , earning an additional nomination for Best Original Song for " Kiss the Girl ". It also marked a significant turn by the studio back towards the darker and scarier villains typical of the films it had produced before Walt Disney's death. The Rescuers Down Under (1990) was released as the first sequel produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation. The film garnered mainly positive reception, but
12931-408: The Seven Dwarfs , one of the first full-length animated feature films and the first U.S.-based one. In 1986, during a large corporate restructuring, Walt Disney Productions, which had grown from a single animation studio into an international media conglomerate , was renamed The Walt Disney Company and the animation studio became Walt Disney Feature Animation ( WDFA ) in order to differentiate it from
13124-511: The Third film adaptation of the animated TV series based on the Monkey Punch comics, Castle of Cagliostro (1979), influenced the climax of The Great Mouse Detective , which in turn paved the way for the Disney Renaissance. The two-minute climax scene used computer-generated imagery (CGI), making it the first Disney film to extensively use computer animation , a fact that Disney used to promote
13317-630: The Wind "). However, its box office gross was far lower in comparison to what The Lion King earned the previous year. The following year, The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996), Disney's first animated film produced at a budget over $ 100 million, opened to better reviews than Pocahontas , but a lower total box office of $ 325 million. Both films feature composer (now serving only as lyricist to Menken's music) Stephen Schwartz . When Hercules (1997), with songs by Menken and David Zippel , earned $ 252 million—$ 73 million less than The Hunchback of Notre Dame —at
13510-427: The action sequences, visuals, and performances but criticized the screenplay. It received unfavorable reviews from Chinese audiences, who criticized the character development, inaccurate depictions of Chinese history and mishandling of Chinese cultural elements. The fifth live-action adaptation, The Little Mermaid , was released on May 26, 2023 (directed and produced by Rob Marshall ). Alan Menken also returned as
13703-531: The actor "used a lot of facial expressions and eye movements to communicate", mirroring Mufasa's tendency to be subtle and convey a lot of emotion with little movement. The animators borrowed some design elements from Mufasa for adult Simba to make the latter look more heroic. Under Fucile, Phillip Young was another animator who worked on Mufasa, which Young referred to as his "best character assignment". Prior to The Lion King , Young had mostly animated action scenes, some of which he also did for Mufasa, but he considers
13896-510: The actor's "distinct baritone was put to excellent use". According to Daniel Carter of Beliefnet , Jones's efforts resulted in "a beloved character that resonated with audiences worldwide". Rebecca Kivak of The Scranton Times-Tribune said she immediately respected Mufasa "as I would any parent" due to Jones's delivery of his character's meaningful lines. According to Elizabeth Gregory of the Evening Standard , Jones's voice stood out amidst
14089-423: The animation department was in jeopardy. Going against a 30-year studio policy, the company founded a television animation division (now Disney Television Animation ), which produced such shows as DuckTales . In the interest of saving what he believed to be the studio's core business, Roy E. Disney , who resigned from the company in 1984, persuaded Eisner to let him return and supervise the animation department in
14282-410: The animation program at CalArts and trained by Eric Larson, Frank Thomas, Ollie Johnston and Woolie Reitherman, got their first chance to prove themselves as a group with the animated sequences in Disney's live-action/animated hybrid feature Pete's Dragon (1977), the animation for which was directed by Bluth. In September 1979, dissatisfied with what they felt was a stagnation in the development of
14475-480: The animators created or formalized many of the techniques and processes that became the key tenets and principles of traditional animation. Silly Symphonies such as The Goddess of Spring (1934) and The Old Mill (1937) served as experimentation grounds for new techniques such as the animation of realistic human figures, special effects animation and the use of the multiplane camera , an invention that split animation artwork layers into several planes, allowing
14668-432: The animators proceeded to incorporate Jones's own facial expressions into Mufasa's. Minkoff and co-director Roger Allers praised Jones's work on the film, recalling that his vocal exercises alone "sometimes sounded like a real lion with a rumbling growl". Allers claims his voice would echo throughout the studio, without the aid of a microphone. Nonetheless, they strategically placed six microphones around his head to give
14861-456: The art of animation at Disney, Bluth and several of the other new guard animators quit to start their own studio, Don Bluth Productions , which became Disney's chief competitor in the animation field during the 1980s. Delayed half a year by the defection of the Bluth group, The Fox and the Hound was released in 1981 after four years in production. The film was considered a financial success by
15054-468: The behaviors, emotions, and feelings behind that mask”. According to Jones, he originally made the mistake of forcing his character to sound regal before receiving direction to voice Mufasa as himself, who the actor described as more akin to "a dopey dad". Jones explained that "Fathers are not always grand, certainly not with their sons. When you accommodate being a father, you are often dopey and goofy. You are just Dad". Inspired by his revised tone of voice,
15247-455: The benchmark against which all future film tragedies would be measured", comparing its legacy to that of Bambi's mother. Although death and violence had already been depicted in children's entertainment, Alex Spencer of The Escapist reported that nothing released before 1994 rivaled Mufasa's impact. Prior to Mufasa, deceased parents in Disney films had typically died or been killed off-screen. Josh Spiegel of /Film heralded The Lion King as
15440-596: The board to fire Miller. Roy E. Disney brought in Michael Eisner as Disney's new CEO and Frank Wells as president. Eisner in turn named Jeffrey Katzenberg chairman of the film division, The Walt Disney Studios. Near completion when the Eisner regime took over Disney, The Black Cauldron (1985) came to represent what would later be referred to as the "rock bottom" point for Disney animation. The studio's most expensive feature to that point at $ 44 million, The Black Cauldron
15633-495: The box office and became the highest-grossing first-issue animated film to that point. Katzenberg, Schneider, and Roy Disney set about changing the culture of the studio, increasing staffing and production so that a new animated feature would be released every year instead of every two to four. The first of the releases on the accelerated production schedule was Oliver & Company (1988), which featured an all-star cast including Billy Joel and Bette Midler and an emphasis on
15826-462: The box office and widespread positive reviews. Ron Clements and John Musker have the most films in the Renaissance era they directed with three each. Most of the films Disney released in the Renaissance era were well received. According to review-aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes , six of the movies— The Little Mermaid , Beauty and the Beast , Aladdin , The Lion King , Mulan , and Tarzan garnered approval ratings of over 85%, with
16019-491: The box office, news media began to openly suggest that Disney animation was on a downward trend of their animated film releases. Although it gained more positive criticism than Pocahontas and The Hunchback of Notre Dame , it was still vulnerable to competition from companies such as DreamWorks Animation and Pixar . Disney's penultimate Renaissance film, Mulan (1998), with a score by Jerry Goldsmith and songs by Matthew Wilder and David Zippel, earned $ 304 million at
16212-704: The box office, and had laid off a large portion of their hand-drawn animators. However, the studio stated in 2019 and 2023 that they are open to proposals from filmmakers for future hand-drawn feature projects. In addition, in April 2022, Eric Goldberg , one of the studio's hand-drawn animators who has been working with the studio since 1992, confirmed plans within the Disney studio to once again return to hand-drawn animation. Kansas City, Missouri , natives Walt Disney and Roy O. Disney founded Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio in Los Angeles in 1923 and got their start producing
16405-493: The camera to appear to move dimensionally through an animated scene. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs cost Disney a then-expensive sum of $ 1.4 million to complete (including $ 100,000 on story development alone) and was an unprecedented success when released in February 1938 by RKO Radio Pictures , which had assumed distribution of Disney product from United Artists in 1937. It was briefly the highest-grossing film of all time before
16598-532: The character animation on these productions and all subsequent features until the late 1970s was supervised by a brain-trust of animators Walt Disney dubbed the " Nine Old Men ", many of whom also served as directors and later producers on the Disney features: Frank Thomas , Ollie Johnston , Woolie Reitherman , Les Clark, Ward Kimball , Eric Larson , John Lounsbery , Milt Kahl , and Marc Davis . Other head animators at Disney during this period included Norm Ferguson, Bill Tytla and Fred Moore . The development of
16791-442: The character the first time "in which I could exercise some acting chops". He also animated Mufasa's stampede scenes, as well as some of his interactions with Simba. Animator Chris Wahl specifically requested to work on Mufasa because he admired Fucile and Jones's vocal performance. Despite the character's lack of footage due to his smaller role and having already assembled an animation team, the filmmakers allowed Wahl to help animate
16984-461: The character's benevolence and audience connection. Pediatrician and writer Perri Klass said Mufasa's death subverted the absent or dead mother trope in Disney films and embraced the "90's-style celebration of the involved dad", in contrast to Bambi's "archetypically distant" father. Collider 's Diego Pineda Pacheco ranked it the second most heartbreaking death from a children's film, observing that any conversation regarding death in children's media
17177-513: The character. Maquettes of the character were created by animation sculptor Kent Melton . Critics and audiences initially expressed varying opinions about Mufasa's death. According to Jessica Wang of Entertainment Weekly , no viewer was left "emotionally unaffected" in 1994. Dan Webster of The Spokesman-Review called the moment "a plot twist unfamiliar to this era of family-values emphasis". Film critic Hal Hinson predicted that Mufasa's death would be as widely debated as Bambi's mother's. At
17370-528: The characters. The fourth live-action adaptation, Mulan , was released on September 4, 2020. It was directed by Niki Caro with Harry Gregson-Williams acting as the new composer and songwriter for the film. Originally scheduled to be a wide theatrical release in March 2020, it was ultimately cancelled in the United States after being delayed multiple times due to the COVID-19 pandemic . Disney instead premiered
17563-410: The clear acetate sheets (" cels ") used in final animation production. The resulting art style – a scratchier line which revealed the construction lines in the animators' drawings – typified Disney films into the 1980s. The film was a success, being the tenth highest-grossing film of 1961 with rentals of $ 6.4 million. The Disney animation training program started at the studio in 1932 before
17756-522: The company became Disney's main competitor in the animation industry during the 1980s and early 1990s. Disney made major organizational changes in the mid-1980s after narrowly escaping a hostile takeover attempt by businessman and financier Saul Steinberg . Michael Eisner , formerly of Paramount Pictures , became CEO in 1984, and was joined by his Paramount associate Jeffrey Katzenberg as studio chairman, while Frank Wells , formerly of Warner Bros. Pictures , became president . In 1985, Peter Schneider
17949-467: The company's film and television production divisions, creating the Walt Disney Pictures banner under which future films from the feature animation department would be released. After a series of corporate takeover attempts in 1984, Roy E. Disney , son of Roy O. and nephew of Walt, resigned from the company's board of directors and launched a campaign called "SaveDisney", successfully convincing
18142-418: The company's other divisions. Its current name was adopted in 2006 after Pixar Animation Studios was acquired by Disney. For many people, Disney Animation is synonymous with animation, for "in no other medium has a single company's practices been able to dominate aesthetic norms" to such an overwhelming extent. The studio was recognized as the premier American animation studio for much of its existence and
18335-448: The day-to-day operations in 1985. On February 6, 1986, Disney executives moved the animation division from the Disney studio lot in Burbank to a variety of warehouses, hangars and trailers located about two miles east (3.2 kilometers) at 1420 Flower Street in nearby Glendale, California . About a year later, the growing computer graphics (CG) group would move there too. The animation division's first feature animation at its new location
18528-460: The death could be traumatizing and anxiety-inducing should parents fail to prepare their children before viewing, but child therapist Mercedes Ojeda-Castro encouraged parents to use the opportunity to discuss death. Several critics cited Mufasa's death as potentially frightening for younger viewers. Journalist Janet Maslin questioned the film's G rating , and the Ottawa Citizen 's Jay Stone said
18721-412: The death with teaching 1990s children how to reconcile complicated emotions resulting from the death of a loved one, while /Film 's Hoai-Tran Bui said "death, loss, and grief was a foreign concept to kids until Mufasa". For Consequence , Dominick Mayer said the scene taught this generation "about death and mortality and the responsibilities that the living have to the dead they once loved", and declared it
18914-609: The development of Snow White eventually led to Walt Disney helping found the California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) . This university formed via the merger of Chouinard Art Institute and the Los Angeles Conservatory of Music. It included a Disney-developed animation program of study among its degree offerings. CalArts became the alma mater of many of the animators who would work at Disney and other animation studios from
19107-486: The domestic and foreign box office , earning much greater profits. After the deaths of Walt and Roy O. Disney (in 1966 and 1971, respectively), Walt Disney Productions was left in the hands of Donn Tatum , Card Walker , and Walt's son-in-law Ron Miller . Under their supervision, creative leadership over feature animated films largely fell to Wolfgang Reitherman . While certain films such as The Rescuers (1977) were commercially and critically successful, on
19300-486: The eighth "saddest deaths in movie history". Readers of The Independent voted Mufasa "the most iconic death scene". IGN ranked Mufasa's death "Disney's Most Traumatic Movie Moment", with author Lucy O'Brien writing that "a little bit of innocence in every child watching withered away forever". Despite ranking it the third most powerful animated death, Entertainment Weekly 's Jonathan W. Gray called it arguably "the most impactful death on this list". Best Life ranked it
19493-449: The elephant graveyard, although that scene had not yet been written. She had intended for the dialogue to merely serve as a placeholder but it was ultimately retained. From the dialogue, Sanders determined that the character would manifest as either "a lifelike ghost, a series of stars, or just a dark presence" in the scene. He drew inspiration from a musical excerpt from the film The Mission (1986), and used pastels "to fully encapsulate
19686-527: The emotional impact of Mufasa's death to be alleviated by Timon and Pumbaa's humor. Originally, they had not planned for Mufasa to reappear after dying, but they wanted Simba to have a concrete reason to return to Pride Rock, and decided his father's ghost should convince him. Mufasa's death and return as a ghost are among several thematic similarities The Lion King shares with William Shakespeare 's play Hamlet , from which screenwriters Irene Mecchi and Jonathan Roberts drew inspiration. However, they removed
19879-499: The feature animation department created a caste system at the Disney studio: lesser animators (and feature animators in-between assignments) were assigned to work on the short subjects, while animators higher in status such as the Nine Old Men worked on the features. Concern over Walt Disney accepting credit for the artists' work as well as debates over compensation led to many of the newer and lower-ranked animators seeking to unionize
20072-503: The feature animation studio and outsourcing future animation. Roy E. Disney intervened, offering to head the feature animation division and turn its fortunes around, while Eisner established the Walt Disney Pictures Television Animation Group to produce lower-cost animation for television. Named Chairman of feature animation by Eisner, Roy E. Disney appointed Peter Schneider president of animation to run
20265-600: The film "could have done without" Simba's attempt to awaken his dead father. Ranking it among the most traumatic Disney film moments, Paolo Ragusa of Consequence said, "It may be cruel, but with years of reflection, it’s a profoundly important detail in the scope of The Lion King , and though it’s difficult to not feel the pangs of loss after all this time, it’s animated with palpable emotion and cinematic elegance". Several reviewers, such as Roger Ebert , compared Mufasa's death to that of Bambi's mother, with Hugh Armitage of Digital Spy describing it as "Bambi's mother's death for
20458-470: The film as "essentially a love story between a father and a son ... It’s about that moment in life when you realise that your father is going to pass on to you his wisdom and knowledge". In early drafts of the film, Mufasa was not related to Scar, but the producers decided that making these characters brothers would provide a more interesting story. However, the characters' physical appearances had already been finalized, leaving little family resemblance between
20651-443: The film during marketing. Glen Keane , a leading animator for Disney films, has also credited Miyazaki's work as a "huge influence" on Disney's animated films. Disney had been developing The Little Mermaid (1989) since the 1930s, and by 1988, after the success of Touchstone Pictures ' Who Framed Roger Rabbit , the studio had decided to make it into an animated musical , much like many of its previous animated movies, but with
20844-498: The film industry, who dubbed the production "Disney's Folly", Disney proceeded undaunted into the production of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs , which would become the first animated feature in English and Technicolor. Considerable training and development went into the production of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and the studio greatly expanded, with established animators, artists from other fields and recent college graduates joining
21037-510: The film itself, Spielberg also helped Disney produce three Roger Rabbit shorts . Disney moved to first place in box office receipts by 1988, with Who Framed Roger Rabbit being the summer's biggest hit. The Disney Renaissance was prompted by competition with Don Bluth's animated productions, along with the evolution of overseas animation, most notably the Studio Ghibli anime productions from Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki . His Lupin
21230-483: The film on September 4, 2020, on Disney+ , for a premium fee in countries where the service had launched. The film had a traditional theatrical release in countries without Disney+ where theaters have re-opened. With a production budget of $ 200 million, the film was a financial disappointment (partially due to the pandemic), grossing only $ 70 million, not including digital earnings from Disney+. The film received generally positive reviews from western critics, who praised
21423-479: The film's composer and wrote new songs alongside producer Lin-Manuel Miranda . The Little Mermaid grossed $ 298.2 million in the United States and Canada, and $ 271.4 million in other territories, for a worldwide gross of $ 569.6 million, making it the tenth-highest-grossing film of 2023 . Critics praised the performances of the cast and the musical sequences but criticized the visual effects and character designs. Vanessa Armstrong of /Film called it
21616-433: The film's final original box office take varying between $ 1.4 million and $ 1.9 million. However, Pinocchio was a critical success, winning the Academy Award for Best Original Song and Best Original Score , making it the first film of the studio to win not only either Oscar, but both at the same time. Fantasia , an experimental film produced to an accompanying orchestral arrangement conducted by Leopold Stokowski ,
21809-435: The film's most iconic lines. Wilson Chapman of IndieWire said "Few actors have ever been better suited for a voice role than Jones was for Mufasa", calling the actor equally effective during his quieter moments parenting Simba. According to Paste , The Lion King is the actor's six-best movie. Pinkvilla 's Suhasini Oswal wrote that his "performance defined the character's regal and compassionate nature, cementing his place in
22002-471: The film. To promote the release of The Lion King in 1994, Mufasa began appearing in a plethora of merchandise licensed by Disney Consumer Products . Mufasa's likeness has been used in several The Lion King tie-in products and media, including the PC game Disney's Animated Storybook: The Lion King (1994) and console game The Lion King: Simba's Mighty Adventure (2000). From 1995 to 2018, Mufasa provided
22195-648: The first film to do so losing to Spielberg's 1993 film Jurassic Park . Thanks to the success of the early films of the Renaissance era, Disney management was able to allocate sufficient money to bring Feature Animation back from its ten-year exile to Glendale. A 240,000-square-foot building designed by Robert A. M. Stern opened across the street from the main Disney lot in Burbank on December 16, 1994. The next Disney animated film, Pocahontas (1995), opened to mixed reviews, though it still earned $ 346 million worldwide and garnered two Academy Awards for Best Original Musical or Comedy Score and Best Original Song (" Colors of
22388-436: The first five films won awards in both categories. The Disney Renaissance is also notable for being its film Beauty and the Beast became the first animated film ever to be nominated for Best Picture . Eight of the films were nominated for Annie Awards , with seven of each films winning at least one: All soundtracks were initially released under Walt Disney Records in the format of CD and cassette . Many have attributed
22581-534: The first four being referred to by Roger Ebert as the "big four" in 1997. Pocahontas has the lowest reception of Disney's Renaissance films – it averaged 54% positive reviews. List indicator(s) The Rescuers Down Under is the only film in the Renaissance era not to have been nominated in both Annie and Oscar ceremonies. Nine of the ten films in the Disney Renaissance were nominated for Academy Awards , six of which won at least one Academy Award; six Best Original Song and five Best Original Score , with
22774-483: The greatest fathers to have appeared on film, with Zach Seemayer of Entertainment Tonight ranking him among "the 13 greatest fictional fathers in movie history", and Business Insider calling him one of the 19 "the best fictional dads of all time". Jeff Peterson of the Deseret News said the character "demonstrates the qualities of a good father, which, incidentally, are the same qualities needed for Simba to become
22967-522: The greatest kings" in "the history of animated cinema". Mufasa is "one of the most famous lions of all time", according to Jenna Mullins of E! . Mufasa was Jones's most famous animated performance, and one of the most popular roles of his career. The character is credited with introducing Jones to a younger generation of filmgoers. According to Emma Saunders of BBC Online , he was "loved by millions for voicing Mufasa". Carlos Morales of IGN called Mufasa "his second most famous role", after Darth Vader from
23160-524: The hearts of generations". In 2014, Camille Dautrich of the Springfield News-Leader described Mufasa as one "of the world's most beloved animated characters". Reporting for Good Morning America , Nicole Pelletiere said his wisdom and legacy endeared him to Disney fans. The A.V. Club ranked him the 30th "best Disney animated character of all time", and GamesRadar+ ranked him 25th. Mufasa has been described by several publications as one of
23353-470: The highest-grossing live-action musical film, second-highest-grossing film of 2017 , and the tenth-highest-grossing film of all time . Beauty and the Beast received positive reviews from critics, with many praising its faithfulness to the original animated film, the elements used from the Broadway musical, performances, visual style, musical score, songs, costume design, and production values, though criticism
23546-555: The hopes of improving its fortunes. Disney released The Great Mouse Detective (1986) a few months before Don Bluth released An American Tail (1986). An American Tail outperformed The Great Mouse Detective and became the highest grossing animated film to that date. Despite An American Tail ' s greater level of success, The Great Mouse Detective was still successful enough (both critically and commercially) to instill executive confidence in Disney's animation department. Oliver and Company (1988) would later be released on
23739-472: The illusion that his voice was "coming from everywhere". Jones worked on the film sporadically for over two years until Disney was satisfied. A song had originally been written for the character, which was not used in the final film once Disney realized Jones was unable to perform it. Entitled "To Be King", it was ultimately reworked into " I Just Can’t Wait To Be King ", performed by Simba. Jones and actress Madge Sinclair , who voiced Sarabi, had previously played
23932-498: The implied off-screen death of Bambi's mother in Bambi (1942), Minkoff argued that The Lion King should confront Mufasa's death in a more direct manner by having Simba interact with his dead body on-screen. According to art director Andy Gaskill , the decision to slowly reveal Mufasa's corpse as the dust clears from the scene heightens its realism by allowing audiences and Simba to realize what has occurred simultaneously. The creative team
24125-449: The kids, we lose everything". The studio began the 1970s with the release of The Aristocats , the last film project to be approved by Walt Disney. In 1971, Roy O. Disney, the studio co-founder, died and Walt Disney Productions was left in the hands of Donn Tatum and Card Walker , who alternated as chairman and CEO in overlapping terms until 1978. The next feature, Robin Hood (1973),
24318-412: The latter becoming the third-highest-grossing animated feature film of all time . It also had the highest-grossing worldwide opening of all time for an animated feature film up until the release of Nintendo and Illumination 's The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023). By 2013, the studio had no hand-drawn animated features in development as a result of their computer animated films performing better at
24511-469: The main output accompanied by cartoons starring Mickey Mouse, Figaro and, in the 1950s, Chip 'n' Dale and Humphrey the Bear . In addition, Disney began reissuing the previous features, beginning with re-releases of Snow White in 1944, Pinocchio in 1945, and Fantasia in 1946. This led to a tradition of reissuing the Disney films every seven years, which lasted into the 1990s before being translated into
24704-406: The midst of the animators' strike, premiered in October 1941 and proved to be a financial success. The film cost $ 950,000 to produce, half the cost of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs , less than a third of the cost of Pinocchio , and two-fifths of the cost of Fantasia . Dumbo eventually grossed $ 1.6 million during its original release. Dumbo was the first Disney animated film to be completed at
24897-478: The most iconic part of the film. Spiegel suggested that modern Disney films return to Mufasa's formula to abolish the "Disney Death" trope. Meanwhile, Panama Jackson of The Root called Mufasa's death "one of the most significant deaths in the black community of all time". Scott Campbell of Far Out said that while Jones's performance "had already elevated Mufasa to iconic status", the character's death cemented him in "the minds of viewers everywhere", ranking him
25090-427: The movie and bringing the musical theater tradition into Disney . Upon release, The Little Mermaid was a critical and commercial success and garnered a higher weekend gross than Don Bluth's All Dogs Go to Heaven (1989), which was released on the same day, eventually breaking The Land Before Time ' s record of highest-grossing animated film. It won two Academy Awards for Best Original Song (" Under
25283-609: The next ten years. Most of the Disney Renaissance films were produced there, in the former Grand Central Airport , then known as the Grand Central Business Centre. (It should have been spelled "Center" in American English, but American business promoters sometimes resort to exotic British English spellings.) After the box office failure of the PG-rated The Black Cauldron (1985), the future of
25476-558: The notion of losing a parent". According to Hollywood.com , Mufasa's death was the aforementioned group's "first traumatizing cinematic event", and arguably many of their first times witnessing death. The website also considers Mufasa the first time children confronted the reality that "the hero doesn’t always triumph", prior to whom cartoon heroes were typically spared at the last minute , whereas villains were often "punished" with death. Dougherty, Hollywood.com, Marisa Mirabal of /Film , and Elena Merenda of The Conversation each credited
25669-522: The only Disney film that rivaled Bambi 's depiction of coming of age through tragedy. Joseph Heindl of Game Rant described it as "the other defining parental death in the Disney pantheon", after Bambi's mother, and writers for Legacy.com said both murders "affected the children of their generations and the generations to follow". Jonathan Allford of The Guardian theorized that few preceding or subsequent parental deaths in Disney films have been as emotionally devastating as Mufasa's, which he attributed to
25862-510: The opening narration for the Epcot documentary Circle of Life: An Environmental Fable . In 2019, a Funko Pop! figurine was released to commemorate the remake, which Screen Rant ranked among "The 10 Best Disney Funko Pops". In 1997, actor Samuel E. Wright originated the role of Mufasa on Broadway in the stage adaptation of the film . Prior to The Lion King , he had voiced Sebastian in Disney's The Little Mermaid (1989). Mufasa's role in
26055-444: The opportunity to create a character using only his voice, claiming the process reminded him of his early work performing on radio. As a prolific thespian, he was also attracted to the film's Shakespearean elements. He described voice acting as the "purest form" of acting, likening it to performing in ancient Greek theatre "where the actors would wear masks. In our case, the masks are the animators’ drawings and we just simply supply all
26248-493: The original Animation Building of the Walt Disney Studios (Walt Disney Productions) in Burbank, California . In August 1942, Bambi was released and, as with Pinocchio and Fantasia , did not perform well at the box office. Out of its $ 1.7 million budget, it grossed $ 1.64 million. Production of full-length animated features was temporarily suspended after the release of Bambi . Given the financial failures of some of
26441-446: The pair. According to director Rob Minkoff , they had always imagined that Mufasa accidentally gave Scar his eponymous scar when they were children. Although Mufasa and Scar refer to each other as "brothers" as members of the same pride, Hahn retrospectively suggested that it would have been unlikely for Mufasa and Scar to share the same parents because lion prides typically have only one adult male, with younger rogue lions often killing
26634-472: The phenomenon to the effect Bambi's mother had on baby boomers . Rebecca Hawkes of The Daily Telegraph observed that while previous generations had been impacted by deaths in Bambi and Watership Down (1978), to millennials, The Lion King was "the defining cinematic shock of their youth". Writer Aisha Harris said "millennials ha[ve] never forgotten Mufasa, whose death served as their earliest encounter with
26827-433: The production of new animated features, the first of which was Pinocchio , released in February 1940. Pinocchio was not initially a box office success. The box office returns from the film's initial release were below both Snow White 's unprecedented success and the studio's expectations. Of the film's $ 2.289 million cost – twice of Snow White – Disney recouped $ 1 million by late 1940, with studio reports of
27020-708: The project and completed the score and songs with Alan Menken. Rice later went on to collaborate with Elton John and Hans Zimmer for The Lion King after ABBA had turned down the offer to write songs for the film. Both films won Academy Awards for Best Original Song (" Can You Feel the Love Tonight ") and Best Original Score, and also like Beauty and the Beast won the Golden Globe Award for Best Picture (Musical or Comedy). Aladdin also earned an additional Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song and nominations for Best Sound and Best Sound Effects Editing , for
27213-487: The recent features and World War II cutting off much of the overseas cinema market, the studio's financiers at the Bank of America would only loan the studio working capital if it temporarily restricted itself to shorts production. Features then in production such as Peter Pan , Alice in Wonderland and Lady and the Tramp were therefore put on hold until after the war. Following the United States' entry into World War II after
27406-428: The regal quality and "fatherly warmth" the animators needed to create the character, explaining, "it was up to us to visually come up to that standard that he set with his voice". Specifically, the animators borrowed Jones's "dopey smile" he would wear during recording sessions, and incorporated it into Mufasa's face. Fucile found watching Jones's performance in the film Matewan (1987) to be particularly helpful because
27599-449: The same day as The Land Before Time (1988). Despite The Land Before Time becoming globally the highest grossing animated film to that date, breaking the previous record of An American Tail , Oliver and Company outgrossed it in the United States, launching an era of increased theatrical turnout for Disney. In the 1980s, Disney collaborated with filmmaker Steven Spielberg —producer of An American Tail and The Land Before Time and
27792-481: The same time in 1988, Disney started entering into Australia's long-standing animation industry by purchasing Hanna-Barbera 's Australian studio to start Disney Animation Australia . While Oliver & Company and the next feature The Little Mermaid were in production, Disney collaborated with Steven Spielberg's Amblin Entertainment and master animator Richard Williams to produce Who Framed Roger Rabbit ,
27985-414: The shorts division was shut down in 1956. After that, all future shorts were produced by the feature films division until 1969. The last Disney short of the golden age of animation was It's Tough to Be a Bird . Disney shorts would only be produced on a sporadic basis from this point on, with notable later shorts including Runaway Brain (1995, starring Mickey Mouse) and Paperman (2012). Despite
28178-647: The show was expanded with the addition of the songs "The Morning Report" and " They Live in You ". He was initially reluctant to audition, fearing it would be too similar to playing the Cowardly Lion from The Wizard of Oz (1939) or the Beast from Beauty and the Beast (1994), but relented once he was shown director Julie Taymor 's plans for the character's design and costume. He based his performance on Masai warriors who hunted lions, and learned to growl by researching lions at
28371-452: The sixth "coolest movie dad", and Brian Tallerico of Vulture declared Mufasa Disney's most iconic father. America writer John Dougherty described Mufasa as "graceful and dignified, but also warm and playful—the ideal father". Sandra Gonzalez of Entertainment Weekly selected The Lion King as the "one movie I’m going to watch on Father’s Day " due to Mufasa's love for Simba. Meanwhile, Maddie Garfinkle of People declared him "one of
28564-607: The stop-motion The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993), a live-action adaptation of Alice in Wonderland (2010), and a stop-motion feature remake of Frankenweenie (2012). Bird was also fired after a few years working at the company for criticizing Disney's upper management as he felt that they were playing it safe and not taking risks on animation. He subsequently became an animation director at other studios, including Warner Bros. Animation and Pixar. Ron Miller , Walt Disney's son-in-law, became president of Walt Disney Productions in 1980 and CEO in 1983. That year, he expanded
28757-400: The studio and observe animators at work. That same year, the studio released The Little Mermaid , which became a keystone achievement in Disney's history as its largest critical and commercial success in decades. Directed by John Musker and Ron Clements, who'd been co-directors on The Great Mouse Detective , The Little Mermaid earned $ 84 million at the North American box office, a record for
28950-449: The studio has produced 63 feature films , from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) to Moana 2 (2024), and hundreds of short films . Founded as Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio ( DBCS ) in 1923, renamed Walt Disney Studio ( WDS ) in 1926 and incorporated as Walt Disney Productions ( WDP ) in 1929, the studio was dedicated to producing short films until it entered feature production in 1934, resulting in 1937's Snow White and
29143-400: The studio to work on the film. The training classes, supervised by head animators such as Les Clark , Norm Ferguson and Art Babbit and taught by Donald W. Graham , an art teacher from the nearby Chouinard Art Institute , had begun at the studio in 1932 and were greatly expanded into orientation training and continuing education classes. In the course of teaching the classes, Graham and
29336-412: The studio's animation output was for the military. During the war, Disney produced the live-action/animated military propaganda feature Victory Through Air Power (1943), and a series of Latin culture -themed shorts resulting from the 1941 Good Neighbor trip were compiled into two features, Saludos Amigos (1942) and The Three Caballeros (1944). Saludos Amigos and The Three Caballeros set
29529-447: The studio's feature films. It was Reitherman who was responsible for a noticeable softening of Disney villains, and over the next two decades, nearly all Disney villains were more comical or pitiful than scary. Reitherman's main priority was ensuring that the studio would continue to turn a profit and towards that end, he stressed the importance of making family-friendly films. According to Andreas Deja , Reitherman said that "if we lose
29722-482: The studio's handling of home video releases. In 1948, Disney returned to the production of full-length features with Cinderella , a feature film based on the fairy tale by Charles Perrault . At a cost of nearly $ 3 million, the future of the studio depended upon the success of this film. Upon its release in 1950, Cinderella proved to be a box-office success, with the profits from the film's release allowing Disney to carry on producing animated features throughout
29915-413: The studio's highest-grossing animated feature since Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs , the film's large production costs and the box office underperformance of Disney's other 1959 output resulted in the studio posting its first annual loss in a decade for fiscal year 1960, leading to massive layoffs throughout the studio. By the end of the decade, the Disney short subjects were no longer being produced on
30108-686: The studio, and development continued on The Black Cauldron , a long-gestating adaptation of the Chronicles of Prydain series of novels by Lloyd Alexander produced in Super Technirama 70. The Black Cauldron was intended to expand the appeal of Disney animated films to older audiences and to showcase the talents of the new generation of Disney animators from CalArts. Besides Keane, Musker and Clements, this new group of artists included other promising animators such as Andreas Deja , Mike Gabriel , John Lasseter , Brad Bird and Tim Burton . Lasseter
30301-480: The studio, from top-level animators such as Art Babbitt and Bill Tytla to artists better known for their work outside the Disney studio such as Frank Tashlin , Maurice Noble , Walt Kelly , Bill Melendez , and John Hubley . Hubley, along with several other Disney strikers, went on to found the United Productions of America studio, Disney's key animation rival in the 1950s. Dumbo , in production during
30494-416: The studio. The film was built around a score from Broadway songwriters Alan Menken and Howard Ashman , who was also a co-producer and story consultant on the film. The Little Mermaid won two Academy Awards, for Best Original Song and Best Original Score . The Little Mermaid vigorously relaunched a profound new interest in the animation and musical film genres. The film was also the first to feature
30687-420: The success of the Disney Renaissance to a collection of key similarities found in most if not all of the films from 1989 to 1999. Broadway-style musical numbers were put into place that forwarded the narrative of each film. Characters used songs to showcase their internal emotions. Most of the Renaissance films had songs that have the main character singing what they want out of life as well as chorus numbers led by
30880-519: The supporting cast. Critics have also said that the music style of Renaissance films varies from film to film. An example would be The Little Mermaid having Calypso-style musical numbers and Hercules utilizing Motown in its soundtrack. The use of CAPS, action sequences, and inclusion of celebrity voice talent is also said to have drawn audiences in. Robin Williams ' performance as Genie in Aladdin
31073-742: The template for several other 1940s Disney releases of "package films": low-budgeted films composed of animated short subjects with animated or live-action bridging material. These films were Make Mine Music (1946), Fun and Fancy Free (1947), Melody Time (1948) and The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad (1949). The studio also produced two features, Song of the South (1946) and So Dear to My Heart (1948), which used more expansive live-action stories which still included animated sequences and sequences combining live-action and animated characters. Shorts production continued during this period as well, with Donald Duck , Goofy , and Pluto cartoons being
31266-771: The third Mickey Mouse cartoon, Steamboat Willie , became Disney's first cartoon with synchronized sound and was a major success upon its November 1928 debut at the West 57th Theatre in New York City. The Mickey Mouse series of sound cartoons, distributed by Powers through Celebrity Productions, quickly became the most popular cartoon series in the United States. A second Disney series of sound cartoons, Silly Symphonies , debuted in 1929 with The Skeleton Dance . In 1929, disputes over finances between Disney and Powers led to Disney's animation production company, reincorporated on December 16, 1929, as Walt Disney Productions , signing
31459-456: The time of the film's release, news outlets reported that several parents complained that the scene was inappropriate for a film marketed towards younger viewers, voicing concerns about children potentially experiencing nightmares , worrying about their own parents, and regressing . In return, some commentators accused said parents of being overprotective . According to Darryl E. Owens of Tampa Bay Times , child-development experts warned that
31652-474: The time, it was the first animated film to reach $ 100 million at the box office in the US. The box office success also gave way to a profitable merchandising campaign. In 1994, it was the first Disney Renaissance film to receive a Broadway adaptation. Aladdin (1992) and The Lion King (1994) followed, respectively, with both films having the highest worldwide grosses of their respective release years. Aladdin
31845-574: The unprecedented success of Gone with the Wind two years later, grossing over $ 8 million on its initial release, the equivalent of $ 173,163,120 in 1999 dollars. During the production of Snow White , work had continued on the Mickey Mouse and Silly Symphonies series of shorts. Mickey Mouse switched to Technicolor in 1935, by which time the series had added several major supporting characters, among them Mickey's dog, Pluto , and their friends Donald Duck and Goofy . Donald, Goofy, and Pluto would all be appearing in series of their own by 1940, and
32038-438: The use of Disney's Computer Animation Production System (CAPS). Developed for Disney by Pixar, which had grown into a commercial computer animation and technology development company, CAPS/ink-and-paint would become significant in allowing future Disney films to more seamlessly integrate computer-generated imagery and achieve higher production values with digital ink and paint and compositing techniques. The Little Mermaid
32231-493: The video game Kingdom Hearts II (2006). In The Simpsons episode '" Round Springfield " (1995), Mufasa appears in the clouds to Lisa Simpson , alongside Darth Vader and Jones. All three characters are voiced by Simpsons cast member Harry Shearer , despite Jones himself having guest starred on three earlier Simpsons episodes. In "Round Springfield", Mufasa mistakenly says the name “Kimba” before correcting himself to “Simba”, which parodies allegations that The Lion King
32424-417: The whole the films released over the 18-year period following the death of the Disney brothers did not perform as well as the studio's previous work. One issue was that Reitherman was determined to produce only family-friendly material certain to turn a profit, and softened Disney villains so that they were more comical or pitiful than scary. An especially hard blow was dealt during production of The Fox and
32617-553: The works of United Productions of America (UPA), whose flat art style and stylized animation techniques were lauded as more modern alternatives to the older Disney style. During the 1950s, only one Disney short, the stylized Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Boom , won the Best Short Subject (Cartoons) Oscar. The Mickey Mouse , Pluto and Goofy shorts had all ceased regular production by 1953, with Donald Duck and Humphrey continuing and converting to widescreen CinemaScope before
32810-483: The worldwide box office, restoring the commercial and critical standing of Disney's output. The release of Tarzan (1999) is retrospectively seen as the end of the Renaissance era. With a score by Mark Mancina and songs by Phil Collins , Tarzan won an Academy Award for Best Original Song (" You'll Be in My Heart "), and became Disney's most commercially successful film since The Lion King , earning $ 448 million at
33003-530: The years. Despite its financial failure, Fantasia was the subject of two Academy Honorary Awards on February 26, 1942 – one for the development of the innovative Fantasound system used to create the film's stereoscopic soundtrack, and the other for Stokowski and his contributions to the film. Fantasia was the final Disney animated film to be completed at the Hyperion Studio of the Walt Disney Studios (Walt Disney Productions) in Los Angeles. Much of
33196-464: Was The Great Mouse Detective (1986), begun by John Musker and Ron Clements as Basil of Baker Street after both left production of The Black Cauldron . The film was enough of a critical and commercial success to instill executive confidence in the animation studio. Later the same year, however, Universal Pictures and Steven Spielberg 's Amblin Entertainment released Don Bluth's An American Tail , which outgrossed The Great Mouse Detective at
33389-420: Was "for many decades the undisputed world leader in animated features"; it developed many of the techniques, concepts and principles that became standard practices of traditional animation . The studio also pioneered the art of storyboarding , which is now a standard technique used in both animated and live-action filmmaking, as well as television shows and video games. The studio's catalog of animated features
33582-401: Was Walt Disney Animation Studios' first feature-length motion picture to win an Academy Award since Tarzan . Beauty and the Beast , directed by Bill Condon , was released on March 17, 2017, as the first live-action adaptation of the Disney Renaissance. Alan Menken returned for writing a new score and new songs with Tim Rice. The film grossed over $ 1.2 billion worldwide, becoming
33775-427: Was a critical and commercial failure. The film's $ 21 million box office gross led to a loss for the studio, putting the future of the animation division in jeopardy. Between the 1950s and 1980s, the significance of animation to Disney's bottom line was significantly reduced as the company expanded into further live-action production, television and theme parks. As new CEO, Michael Eisner strongly considered shuttering
33968-535: Was drawn toward its character designs, the auto-tuning of the singing voices, and the inclusion of new Menken songs that deviated in tone from his previous creative zenith. Aladdin , directed and co-written by Guy Ritchie , is the second live-action Disney Renaissance adaptation theatrically released in the United States on May 24, 2019. Alan Menken returned again to write new music and songs with Benj Pasek and Justin Paul . It grossed $ 1 billion worldwide, becoming
34161-547: Was established by Disney to produce direct-to-video sequels to many of the Renaissance films utilizing the crew of their television animation studios. The Return of Jafar (1994), a sequel to Aladdin , was the first film to be released. Further sequels to Renaissance films include Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas (1997), Pocahontas II: Journey to a New World (1998), The Lion King II: Simba's Pride (1998), The Little Mermaid II: Return to
34354-568: Was fired from Disney in 1983 for pushing the studio to explore computer animation production, but went on to become the creative head of Pixar , a pioneering computer animation studio that would begin a close association with Disney in the late 1980s. Similarly, Burton was fired in 1984 after producing a live-action short shelved by the studio, Frankenweenie , then went on to become a high-profile producer and director of live-action and stop-motion features for Disney and other studios. Some of Burton's high-profile projects for Disney would include
34547-422: Was hired as president of Disney's feature animation department, which was soon to be rebranded as Walt Disney Feature Animation . In the same year, to make more room for live-action filmmaking, the animation department was moved from the main Disney lot in Burbank to a "temporary" location in various hangars, warehouses, and trailers about 2 miles (3.2 km) east in nearby Glendale , where it would remain for
34740-481: Was initially divided on whether showing Mufasa's death was appropriate for the film's target audience, and carefully re-wrote the scene to straddle "'the sweet spot of emotion,' pushing just far enough without making the scene too overwhelming for its young audience". One crew member suggested that his death occur in the distance or shadows, which Minkoff vetoed . Despite its short length, Mufasa's death required approximately 30 filmmakers and over two years to complete; it
34933-521: Was inspired by the anime Kimba the White Lion . Chance the Rapper has referenced Mufasa in several of his songs, including "I Am Very Very Lonely" (2014), " Blessings " (2016), and "How Great" (2016). The rapper said he has always likened the character to his own father, and claims Mufasa "was a lot of young black boys’ depiction of growing into manhood". He found himself identifying with Mufasa once he became
35126-601: Was key in renewing mainstream interest in American animation. Other than the film itself, the studio also produced three Roger Rabbit shorts during the late 1980s and early 1990s. A second satellite studio, Walt Disney Feature Animation Florida , opened in 1989 with 40 employees. Its offices were located within the Disney-MGM Studios theme park at Walt Disney World in Bay Lake, Florida , and visitors were allowed to tour
35319-416: Was not as financially successful as The Little Mermaid . However, it was notable for being the first film to be completely produced using Disney's new Computer Animation Production System (CAPS). The rest of the traditionally-animated films during this period would be produced using CAPS. Beauty and the Beast (1991) was Disney's next film and proved to be an immense critical and commercial success. It
35512-439: Was one of the few ideas that remained unchanged during the film's production, which was chosen because lions lack natural predators . Minkoff lobbied in favor of exploring his death in more detail, which was unusual for an animated film at the time. The director also understood the risk of killing a character as important as Mufasa so late into the film, after viewers had already become attached. Although they drew inspiration from
35705-406: Was produced with a significantly reduced budget and animation repurposed from previous features. Both The Aristocats and Robin Hood were minor box office and critical successes. The Rescuers , released in 1977, was a success exceeding the achievements of the previous two Disney features. Receiving positive reviews, high commercial returns, and an Academy Award nomination, it ended up being
35898-479: Was released in November 1940 by Disney itself in a series of limited-seating roadshow engagements. The film cost $ 2 million to produce and, although the film earned $ 1.4 million in its roadshow engagements, the high cost ($ 85,000 per theater) of installing Fantasound placed Fantasia at a greater loss than Pinocchio . RKO assumed distribution of Fantasia in 1941, later reissuing it in severely edited versions over
36091-558: Was the Silly Symphony cartoon Flowers and Trees , the first film commercially released in full Technicolor. Flowers and Trees was a major success and all Silly Symphonies were subsequently produced in Technicolor. By the early 1930s, Walt Disney had realized that the success of animated films depended upon telling emotionally gripping stories that would grab the audience and not let go, and this realization led him to create
36284-636: Was the first animated film nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture , remaining the only animated film nominated for Best Picture when that category had only five entries (1944–2008), and won the Golden Globe Award for Best Picture (Musical or Comedy) and two Academy Awards, for Best Original Score and Best Original Song (" Beauty and the Beast "). Beauty and the Beast also received an Academy Award nomination for Best Sound , as well as two additional nominations for Best Original Song. In addition to being Disney's highest grossing animated movie at
36477-481: Was the first of a series of blockbusters that would be released over the next decade by Walt Disney Feature Animation, a period later designated by the term Disney Renaissance . The Renaissance era also saw the studio return to making films with darker themes and scarier villains, similar to the films it had made when Walt Disney was still alive. Accompanied in theaters by the Mickey Mouse featurette The Prince and
36670-414: Was the highest-grossing animated film at the time of its release, but later became second after being surpassed by The Lion King , which became the highest-grossing animated film at the time and remains the highest-grossing traditionally animated film in history. Howard Ashman wrote several songs for Aladdin before his death, but only three were ultimately used in the film. Tim Rice ultimately joined
36863-457: Was the last scene finished, despite being the first storyboarded. Even as the sequence progressed through different stages of production, inbetweener Rachel Bibb still expected it to be edited out, but it was ultimately retained because Disney understood its importance to the final film. Mufasa's death prompted the filmmakers to conceive ways to lighten the film's mood afterward. Minkoff suggested sending Simba into exile immediately, which allowed
37056-451: Was too frightening for children—many comparing it to the death of Bambi's mother in Bambi (1942)—the scene is retrospectively regarded as one of the most memorable deaths in film history, particularly resonating with millennials . Several publications have also celebrated Mufasa as one of the greatest fictional fathers in popular culture. Mufasa's likeness has appeared in various tie-in media and merchandise . Jones reprised his role in
37249-405: Was voiced by actor James Earl Jones , who portrayed him as an authoritative yet doting father, rather than a purely regal figure. Created by screenwriters Irene Mecchi , Jonathan Roberts , and Linda Woolverton , Mufasa underwent several changes during production of The Lion King . Notably, the decision to make Mufasa and Scar brothers was made to enhance the plot, and Mufasa was reintroduced as
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