Despite already being sad, a discarded version of ‘The Lion King’ featured an even more tragic scene.
In 1994, Disney released one of its most acclaimed animations: “The Lion King”. Its official premiere took place on June 24, 1994, and soon marked its name as the highest grossing of the year – in addition to also having managed to become one of the biggest in the entire history of cinema.
The plot of Simba, Mufasa and all their family was so loved by the world’s public, that the production is also recognized as the most watched hand-drawn animation in the world. In addition to featuring extremely fun scenes, the production also features some super emotional sequences, such as Mufasa’s death at the beginning of the film.
In it, little Simba ends up witnessing his father being run over by a herd of wildebeest due to a plan by his terrible uncle Scar, who tries to steal his brother’s power and become king of the savannah.
Despite the scene being sad enough – and having left an entire generation scarred due to the strong images of the lion cub saying goodbye to his father in tears – it should have been even worse, as revealed by the ScreenRant website.
According to the portal, during the first drafts, Scar would still be responsible for his brother’s death, however, with some differences. In the initial version, the villain was described as a lion bigger, stronger and much more Machiavellian where, to take the throne of Mufasa, he would have executed his plan using only his jaw.
Despite being extremely strong, if the sequence had been maintained, the plot related to Simba’s feeling of guilt, who believes he was responsible for his father’s death after Scar’s words, and his escape into the forest, where he ends up meeting Timon and Pumbaa, aside from learning countless important life lessons, probably wouldn’t have happened.
Source: Recreio
