The Lion King is a 1994 American animated musical coming-of-age drama film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Walt Disney Pictures. The film was directed by Roger Allers and Rob Minkoff and produced by Don Hahn, from a screenplay written by Irene Mecchi, Jonathan Roberts, and Linda Woolverton. The film features an ensemble voice cast that includes Matthew Broderick, Moira Kelly, James Earl Jones, Jeremy Irons, Jonathan Taylor Thomas, Nathan Lane, Ernie Sabella, Whoopi Goldberg, Cheech Marin, Rowan Atkinson, and Robert Guillaume. Its original songs were written by composer Elton John and lyricist Tim Rice, with a score by Hans Zimmer. Inspired by African wildlife, the story is modelled primarily on William Shakespeare's stage play Hamlet with some influence from the Biblical stories of Joseph and Moses, and follows a young heir apparent who is forced to flee after his uncle kills his father and usurps the throne. After growing up in exile, the rightful king returns to challenge the usurper and end his tyrannical rule over the kingdom.

Musical film is a film genre in which songs by the characters are interwoven into the narrative, sometimes accompanied by dancing. The songs usually advance the plot or develop the film's characters, but in some cases, they serve merely as breaks in the storyline, often as elaborate "production numbers".