by TheLionPrince » December 8th, 2016, 6:20 pm
If I was firmly in control of the franchise, I would serve as the director/writer of the next two Lion King sequels since there was a potential for it to be a great epic film trilogy. I would try to push back against company policy to produce it for direct-to-video. The first sequel would be Simba's Pride but with better animation, the same songs, and a similar storyline.
The storyline would open with Simba having two cubs: the older, headstrong Kiara and the more rebellious, laid-back son. As king, Simba finds it difficult to live up to his father's legacy and tries to imitate his wisdom and strength. He forms a strong alliance with another lion pride that has cubs. He and the pride's king decide to exchange each other's heirs, in which Kiara would marry the king's eldest son who will rule Simba's kingdom while Simba's son would marry the king's youngest daughter and rule his kingdom. However, Simba's son falls in love with Vitani at an early age, but he is unable to confess this love to his father knowing his hatred for the Outsiders. Kiara agrees with the arranged marriage. Meanwhile, Zira is training Kovu (who is also trying to imitate Scar, a stepfather he never knew) to kill Simba and restore Scar's legacy. She has a back-up plan and allies with a clan of jackals in case Kovu fails. Nuka is jealous of Kovu.
Years later, Kovu infiltrates into Simba's pride saving Kiara's life, in which Kiara slowly begins to fall in love with Kovu. Kiara's suitor is jealous of their relationship and tries to kill Kovu, but he is ambushed by Zira and the Outsiders. Nuka dies, and Kiara's suitor returns back to the Pride Lands severely injured and dies. Distraught at his would-be son-in-law's death, Simba banishes Kovu, and Kiara begins to blame herself for what happened. Kovu and Kiara reunite, and Zira's army tries to invade the kingdom. Together with the allied pride, the Pridelanders battles the Outsiders and jackals, but the battle reaches a stalemate. "We are one", Zira dies, the jackals are banished, and the two prides are united. With Kovu and Kiara together, Simba's son confesses his love for Vitani and the two get together. The End.
Granted in retrospective, it would be hard to find a good theatrical release date. Mulan was getting the lucrative summer release June 1998, and November to December 1998 was packed with animated features with A Bug's Life, The Rugrats Movie, and The Prince of Egypt. So, I would settle on a April 1999 release to take advantage of the Easter break for families, plus there were no strong competing films other than The Matrix, which had a different target audience.
A second sequel would be loosely based on Antony and Cleopatra. It would get a spring 2002 release if possible.