After the death of Walt Disney in 1966, and after the last of his film concepts had been used, his animation studio went through a period of major decline known as the Disney Dark Age. During this period of Disney history, those who were left behind tried to pick up the pieces. Spanning from the seventies to the late eighties, films of this time were considered unmemorable and not up to the standard of previous Disney movies, with the company’s 1985 box office flop ‘The Black Cauldron’ setting them at rock bottom.

In the wake of this, however, Disney would experience a revival beginning with the release of ‘The Little Mermaid’ in 1988. Based on the original tale written by Hans Christian Andersen in 1837, this movie’s stunning and intricate hand drawn animation gave way to what would be regarded as the Disney Renaissance. From 1989 to 1999, Disney released some of its most well–known classic films, including ‘Aladdin’, ‘Mulan’, ‘The Hunchback of Notre Dame’ and ‘Beauty and the Beast’.

One movie in particular out of these was ‘The Lion King’, which was released in 1994 to much critical acclaim. Before its release, however, Disney initially believed that it would be a box office failure and was thus left with less experienced animators and producers to work on it. To much surprise however, ‘The Lion King’ became the highest grossing animated film of all time at the time of its release, won two Academy Awards, and spawned a musical adaptation and live action remake.