The December release of photo-realistic movie prequel Mufasa: The Lion King caps a year of 30th anniversary celebrations for Disney’s beloved animated musical The Lion King. The 1994 original set box office records – some of which last to this day in South Africa – winning two Oscars, and spawning a greater franchise that includes a stage show (show seems a better descriptor than theatre adaptation) which has entertained 114 million people around the world over the past 27 years, scooping up six Tony Awards and 70 more accolades in the process.
If you need a The Lion King refresher, the story is set against the backdrop of the African savannah. Riffing on Shakespeare’s Hamlet, young lion Simba is encouraged to flee the Pride Lands by his uncle Scar after the tragic and traumatic death of his father, King Mufasa. In exile, Simba adopts the carefree attitude of Hakuna Matata with his new friends Timon the meerkat and Pumbaa the warthog. But Simba can’t run from his responsibilities forever, and ultimately must return to reclaim his place in the Circle of Life.
Disregarding the franchise’s still unbeaten cinema attendance figures locally, The Lion King is the only Disney film to ever be fully dubbed into Zulu. Meanwhile, every theatre production around the world continues to feature a minimum of seven South African performers (one Rafiki, three male singers and three female singers). It’s clear that The Lion King has especial significance in South Africa, and we spoke to Christine Service, Senior Vice President and General Manager of The Walt Disney Company Africa, about its local influence, past and present.
Looking back 30 years, what was the impact of The Lion King in South Africa specifically?
Christine Service: It is sort of interesting that it’s 30 years, isn’t it? I mean the first film coming out in 1994, obviously at a time when South Africa was going through such huge and positive change. And I don’t know whether that moment in time also impacted the connection people have with this film, but you know that the 1994 film still has the highest admissions – the number of people going to see it at cinemas – of any animated film of all time in South Africa.
That shows the impact it had at the time, and then, if we sort of move straight forward to 2019, when we had the re-versioning of that film with all of the bells and whistles and CG, and the technology to bring it to new audiences in a way that is more contemporary. Well, that film is the biggest film of all time in South Africa [with over R121 million in earnings as of January 2024]. So it’s a story that obviously resonates hugely with audiences here.
We’re thrilled about it, and it’s not just the films. We had the stage play here, 17 years ago. And that was the longest-running stage play in this country at something like 42 weeks, running between Cape Town and Joburg.
And then there’s all the other The Lion King content on our channels, which always rates amongst the top of our shows. So yeah, it’s a story that really has captured the hearts of South Africans.
Would you say it was a game changer for Disney on the continent?
Christine Service: We have so many Disney classics that are important to our audiences here. But certainly this film is significant in the number of people that it has reached and the number of people that it’s reached multiple, multiple times. Because, every time we put it on free TV – we’ve just had a big festival with eTV – it still gets huge ratings. So there is obviously a deep connection of people wanting to share it now with their youngsters, or have those family moments again. It’s one of many franchises but I think it has added to the love of Disney here, and is a really important tentpole for us, no doubt about that.
Obviously The Lion King features African wildlife and our recognisable, distinct natural world, but do you think there are any other reasons The Lion King has resonated with local audiences the way it has?
Christine Service: And even people across the globe, you know, if you think about this particular story. For Disney, everything comes back to storytelling. It’s at the core of everything that we do; telling great stories first. Well, The Lion King has that in spades. It’s a story that has so many levels. It’s about belonging. It’s about family. It’s about betrayal. It’s about tragedy. It’s about friendship. It’s about duty. So this story just has so many facets and layers that resonate with people of all ages, and even in watching it again and again you get different things out of it.
Then there’s the music in this film too. One of the most iconic opening sequences from a music perspective of any film has got to be The Lion King. And, of course, through the amazing work of Lebo M and others, that music is really connected and rooted here on this continent in an unbelievable way. So I think that’s another key part.
Could you briefly run us through some of the celebratory activities that took place and are still taking place around The Lion King anniversary in South Africa?
Christine Service: We’ve had a brilliant year of activities. And one of the amazing things is whenever we’ve talked to potential partners or people who wanted to get involved in doing something for the 30th, it really was received with such warmth and enthusiasm, which is also very rewarding.
Just to highlight a couple of things, [in July] we hosted a tribute concert for the 30th anniversary at the Linder Auditorium, and that was with South African performers, and the Johannesburg Philharmonic Orchestra on stage. There we had Lebo M with us which was really amazing that he was in town, and he was able to do that, and Lira sang, and Vusi Nova and Shekhinah were there. Then we packaged that for broadcast and put it on eTV so that that viewers across the country could see these iconic Disney Lion King songs performed by some of the most amazing talent in South Africa.
So that was one thing and another one was at the National Children’s Theatre in Johannesburg, where they ran The Lion King, Jr. stage show [in November and early December] in the country for the first time. It was mind-blowing the talent of these young kids who are in the show, and the costumes and the enthusiasm with which they perform it really was very special. And some of these kids are part of the NCT’s ongoing drama workshop programs, so they are in the theatre space, but some of the kids in the show were new to live entertainment too.
We also ran a screening program with Sunshine Cinema, which is an organisation that take cinema experiences out into more rural areas where people may not have the opportunity to get to the cinema, or attend regularly. And we ran a screening programme with The Lion King in Zulu. And so that was great because it was creating access in areas that ordinarily wouldn’t have been able to see the film. And, of course, lots of stuff on Disney+ this year, and retail. Yeah. So it’s been an exciting year, culminating with Mufasa releasing on 20 December.
The making of, and release of, Mufasa: The Lion King probably surprised a lot of people. So how is it special; what does it add to The Lion King franchise?
Christine Service: There needs to be a story to tell, right? There needs to be a purpose for that. And here we don’t know the origin story of Mufasa and Scar, and how they come to where they are. Mufasa: The Lion King is the story of these two brothers, and how they ended up being in the position they are at the start of The Lion King. And it is sort of a magical history of that relationship. Now we’re going to explore that very deeply, particularly the concept of brothers.
That’s what we’re excited about – the storyline, the music again, the impact on the screen. It is unbelievably beautiful.
Do you think we can expect more of these celebrations of modern classic Disney films moving forward?
Christine Service: We do love celebrating anniversaries, I mean, we’re coming into Mickey Mouse’s 100th anniversary, for example. That’ll be a big milestone for us.
Coming back to The Lion King, though, it’s the 27th anniversary of the Lion King stage play [25 years on the West End], which is very meaningful for us as well, because of the number of South Africans who are in the cast of the productions around the world; I think something like 300 or even more. I don’t think there’s any production that we’ve mounted that doesn’t have South Africans in it. So that is very meaningful.
So yes, we do love a good anniversary, and there will definitely be more as we go on.
Looking ahead, is there anything you want to tease regarding Disney and its various properties in 2025?
Christine Service: We’re so privileged to have so much content and so many great brands that we work with. So, for example, next year we’ve got Snow White [with Rachel Zegler and Gal Gadot], which is the reimagining of that story, and, Snow White was the very first feature length film that Disney ever made so that’s another milestone.
We’ve got three Marvel films next year, which we’re super excited about, starting with Captain America in February. And then we have a brand new story [from Pixar] called Elio, and it’s about this young boy who ends up being captured by aliens, and they mistakenly think that he is actually the ruler of Earth.
Then on Disney+, we have a huge year as well. In 2025, we’re having a new series for Alien. And, of course, we’ve still got the linear channels which are just doing amazing things. We’ve got a David Attenborough, Ryan Reynolds, as well as David Blaine special series coming to National Geographic, for example. So there’s something for everybody.
