The Lion King III: Dawning of a New Era (2024)

The Lion King III: Dawning of a New Era is a 2024 traditionally animated film made and distributed by Walt Disney Animation Studios. Taking place after the events of The Lion King II: Simba's Pride, it tells the story of the heroes' further adventures and the conflicts that will change their lives forever.

Synopsis[]

Ever since the Pridelanders and the Outlanders united, the future has seemed bright for the Pride Lands. Kiara is pregnant with her and Kovu's first litter of cubs, thus the Circle of Life is being sustained. Little do our heroes know, however, that something else is coming-something far greater than anything they could ever have imagined, something that will change the course of the Pride Lands' history forever.

Cast[]

• Matthew Broderick as Simba, king of the Pride Lands, mate of Nala, father of Kiara and father-in-law of Kovu
• Moira Kelly as Nala, queen of the Pride Lands, mate of Simba, mother of Kiara and mother-in-law of Kovu
• Neve Campell as Kiara, princess of the Pride Lands, daughter of Simba and Nala and mate of Kovu
• Jason Marsden as Kovu, prince consort of the Pride Lands, mate of Kiara and son-in-law of Simba and Nala
• Meredith Scott Lynn as Vitani, older sister of Kovu and sister-in-law of Kiara
• Nathan Lane as Timon, a meerkat and ally to the Pride Landers
• Ernie Sabella as Pumbaa, a warthog and Timon's best friend and ally to the Pride Landers
• James Earl Jones as Mufasa, late father of Simba and former king of the Pride Lands, grandfather of Kiara
• Khary Payton as Rafiki, an old mandrill and royal shaman of the Pride Lands

Production[]

After both the finale of The Lion Guard and the less-than-stellar photorealistic remake of The Lion King in 2019, Disney announced that it had an "ambitious project" in mind, which it later confirmed to be a new installment in the Lion King franchise. After much skepticism from the fanbase, Disney claimed that the movie would "live up to fans' expectations."

Production of the film began in late 2019, with all the surviving cast members of the original Lion King films confirming that they would reprise their roles. The production, however, was halted due to the global Coronavirus Pandemic. That didn't stop Disney from moving forward by having the cast and crew make progress while quarantined in their homes. Many cast members recorded some lines from their closets, bedrooms and other secluded places in their homes. Artists also made concept art from their homes and mailed them to Disney for evaluation.

After the quarantine ended, production picked up speed again and the cast and crew returned to the studios. In order to keep its promise, Disney put considerable effort into making sure that the film lived up to the acclaim of the original by hiring Tanzanian and Kenyan cultural consultants, native Swahili and Zulu speakers and linguists, naturalists, and even a few lucky fans, including and especially members of the now-grown original target audience of the first film. Hans Zimmer, the composer of the original film's soundtrack, returned to compose the score, and acclaimed South African singer and musician Lebo M. was hired to sing many of the film's insert songs.

Production ended in late 2023 and the film premiered in July 2024, shortly after the original film's 30th anniversary.

Reception[]

Upon release, the film immediately received universal critical acclaim from both audiences and critics for the story, themes, dark tone, soundtrack, use of language, and many other aspects. On the opening weekend, the film received a 98% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and currently holds a 97%. Nearly all the fanbase agreed that the film did indeed live up to the expectations that Disney promised and many fans went as far as to say that the film was even darker and deeper than the original Lion King film. Swahili- and Zulu-speaking viewers praised the film for its extensive usage of said languages, and by popular demand, the film was eventually fully dubbed into both those languages.

The fact that this was Disney's first traditionally-animated film since The Princess and the Frog sent a message to Disney, saying that fans wanted Disney to go back to hand-drawn animated films like the old days. Disney, in response, said that, due to the commercial and critical success of the film, it was open to doing so, giving many fans hope that hand-drawn animation could be revived and used by Disney again, thus making the phrase "dawning of a new era" relevant in more ways than just one.

Soundtrack[]

The film is unique among the Lion King films in that it is not a musical like the others. This was done deliberately to reflect its darker tone. The film does, however, have many insert songs in Zulu and Swahili by Lebo M. and several Tanzanian and Kenyan singers. Much of the soundtrack from the original film was reused and, in some cases, edited. The soundtrack album was released shortly after the film itself with lyrics-both in the African languages and their English translations-presented in paper booklets.

Trivia[]

• The film marks many firsts for Disney. It is the first G-rated Disney film to have a character say the word "pregnant"; the first G-rated Disney movie to show a female character giving birth on screen; the first G-rated Disney film to show the death of a major protagonist.
• The film's themes of war, which were hardly touched upon by the previous Lion King films, change, and especially Kiara's death shortly after childbirth made the film even darker in the eyes of the fandom than the original film.
• Many of the cast and crew broke down into tears during the production of the scene of the birth of Kiara's twin children, Jaziri and Ayana. Their birth, and Kiara's subsequent death, was heavily inspired by the birth of Luke and Leia Skywalker and subsequent death of their mother Padme in Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith.
• The scene of Mufasa and other past kings and queens of the Pride Lands welcoming Kiara to the Spirit Realm of the Stars heavily relied on stylized animation, which the fans immensely enjoyed.
• The film has a content advisory at the beginning, warning of the dark and deep themes and scenes that younger viewers might find upsetting.

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