The Lion King: Original animators feeling ‘huge RESENTMENT’ over remake 'It kind of hurts'

Back in 1994, Disney released The Lion King, an animated classic that went on to be regarded as one of the studio’s greatest movie musicals. But now the House of Mouse have discovered they can earn as much as $1 billion a pop by churning out live-action remakes of their classics. And this year there’s been three so far, with The Lion King already having topped the coveted figure. However, an animator on the original reckons most of the crew would be as unhappy as him that the film was remade at all.

David Stephan, who worked on the opening of Circle of Life and the hyenas’ design back in the early 1990s, spoke out in a recent interview.

According to Huffington Post, he said: “If you polled the crew of the original Lion King, most of them would say, ‘Why? Did you really have to do that?’ It kind of hurts.

“It’s sort of sad that the stockholder is now in the room deciding what movies get made. Disney’s now taken the cover off, and it’s now in your face: ‘Yeah, we just want to make money.’ 

“That’s disappointing as an artist, from a studio that was founded on originality and art.”

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Stephen also wasn’t a fan of the acting, saying: “I thought the performances were weak. I mean, they were so wooden. [The filmmakers] put themselves into a corner when you do that realistically. 

“You’re really stuck to what the real physics are in real life, or people aren’t going to buy it. 

“But there were a few scenes where there were a couple of expressions and suddenly it was a little more alive.”

Meanwhile, other animators on the original the outlet contacted said they were not planning on seeing the remake, which was interpreted as an act of protest.

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While one said: “I will only get myself in trouble if I comment on the ‘other’ version.”

Another said bluntly: “There is a huge resentment against these 3D remakes from the original 2D crews. 

“Maybe if we got any kind of royalties it would be different.”

Of course, not everyone hated it and you can read other reactions in the original piece here.