My Lion King Forum

Well, a lot of people have hypothesized that another movie won't happen. But assuming it does---could Shenzi and the gang carry one of their own? Before LK 1 1/2, I wouldn't have really been so sure, but now, it seems possible, but not plausible.

Who knows if there ever will be a new movie? For all I know, The Lion King film series is over. Disney usually doesn't make a quadrilogy of their canon movies. And it certainly doesn't help that John Lasseter ended the production of direct-to-video sequels in 2008, and DisneyToon Studios is restricted to making (CGI) spin-off movies such as the Tinkerbell and Planes movies.

Most fans would rather see a prequel about Mufasa and Scar's childhood, but is it likely to happen? Not really. I'm sure the hyenas could carry on their own film, but the chances of it being made with John Lasseter overseeing Disney's animation unit is unlikely.

Well, here are the reasons I believe it may be made.

1. Lasseter isn't going to stay forever.
2. The sequels are very popular, and make good money.
3. 1.5 wouldn't be a great way to end the film franchise.
4. "The Land Before Time" got 12 sequels. Given that, EVERY Disney film has a chance of getting at least one more.

yeah!

I don't see why there shouldn't be another one. That would be like if J.K. Rolwing had abruptly ended Harry Potter on the third book.

No, they've done enough already. TLK was original meant to stand on its own, and it was brilliant. The ending was completely satisfying and didn't need any sequels at all. Then we got SP, which was far better than most of the other straight-to-video Disney sequels at the time, but had a couple of nagging continuity issues due to the creators of the original film not being involved. After that came 1.5, which despite being called TLK 3 in some places outside the US, was actually more of a self-parody "midquel" than a true final piece of a trilogy. It was also straight-to-video and was completely unnecessary in my opinion. That's three films, and the quality noticeably dropped with each one as is. I don't want the legacy of one of my favorite movies to be tarnished by churning out countless uninspired sequels. I'd only be interested in another TLK movie if the original creators had a story they really thought was worth telling with the characters they designed, which seems highly unlikely at this point since they've not done anything of the sort in the almost 20 years since the first movie.

To play the hypothetical, even if somebody at Disney did try and milk the cash cow again at some point, I'd really doubt that they'd take the direction of making a movie centered around the hyenas. Trying to build a sequel around the secondary villains from the first film just wouldn't be that appealing to most fans.

Oh well.

[quote="Simba the Lion King"]Well, here are the reasons I believe it may be made.

1. Lasseter isn't going to stay forever.
2. The sequels are very popular, and make good money.
3. 1.5 would be a very weak way to end the film franchise.
4. "The Land Before Time" got 12 sequels. Given that, EVERY Disney film has a chance of getting at least one more.[/quote]

1. John Lasseter is a massive icon in the world of animation, I'd say he's going to be around for an extremely long time. He founded Pixar and has been working for/in association with Disney for 20+ years. He's not leaving any time soon. Anyway, by the time he does leave TLK will be an old and 100% dead franchise.

2. The sequels make money, yes, but are infamous for their poor quality, lack of faithfulness to their source material and blatancy as being quick money making schemes for the studio.

3. Many of Disney's brilliant movies were turned into series and ended on notes far worse than TLK1.5 e.g. Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast, Hunchback of Notre Dame, Fox and the Hound, The Jungle Book, Pocahontas, need I go on?

4. The Land Before Time is made by an entirely separate studio, and the quality of it's 50 bazillion sequels hasn't exactly been upstanding from what I've seen.


Look, there's a reason they've put a stop to Direct-to-DVD sequels. They're just plain bad. The TLK sequels only seem less bad to me because I love the original so much, but it's not true for the others. Disney Toon Studios was originally established to make Disney's TV series, but when they crossed over to movies, that really showed. They have lower budgets, less resources, less good story-writers... you see my point. Never has there been a Disney sequel on par with it's corresponding original, at least in my opinion. Some do come close, like the TLK sequels, for instance, and I know there are people here who like the sequels more than the original, but personally I am not in the same boat.

I don't just doubt that there will be another movie. I'm certain of it. The original TLK was such a huge success that I think Disney is just going to let sleeping dogs lie, and not try to pump any more out of it (besides merchandise maybe, but I don't know) A suggestion I've seen here before is that a new movie would be theatrically released, but I'm certain of this never happening, either.

But please, if in the future it turns out I'm wrong, don't hesitate to get in touch

This was another post that was me just trolling. Look, I'm really sorry.

[quote="Simba the Lion King"]
And LK won't be dead by, then, I'm sure.[/quote]

TLK is a dead franchise as of right now! As a die hard fan even I can see that. The only current TLK thing right now is the Broadway show, and even that will have to end some time.

And calling them lovable is a matter of opinion.