King of Kid Tamers Does It Again

The Scene: Sunday’s benefit premiere of Disney’s animated feature “The Lion King” at the El Capitan theater. A party followed in the Hollywood Bowl parking lot. It was Disney at its best: a film and party that parents and children enjoy together.

Audience Review: The crowd was dazzled. One 7-year-old said he’d “give it two thumbs up.” The only real question was who was awed more: kids by the movie or rival studio execs by the umpteen gadzillions Disney stands to make from it.

Who Was There: It was a 1,400-strong crowd that was 60% 10-years-old and under. Among the adults were character voices Matthew Broderick (with Sara Jessica Parker), Whoopi Goldberg (whose 4-year-old granddaughter Amarah’s favorite scene was “when Granny gets the bad one”), Cheech Marin, James Earl Jones, Robert Guillaume, Nathan Lane and Ernie Sabella; lyricist Tim Rice; studio execs Jeffrey Katzenberg and Roy Disney; plus guests including Kevin Costner, Luanne Wells, Bob Daly and Carole Bayer Sager, Sid and Lorraine Sheinberg, John Davis and Norman Lear.

The Bambi Moment: The film’s one emotional death scene sent much of the audience into tears and some crying kids into the lobby. Afterward, one small boy was seen peeking through the theater doors, “to check if it’s a happy part.” What terrified adults most was the thought of stack parking at the Bowl.

Pastimes: Party Planners West provided carnival games, a high-tech trampoline jump and an elephant ride.

Most Impressive Guest From a Rival Studio: Josef, a magnificent--although remarkably lethargic--8-year-old lion. It turns out he’s a Hollywood veteran. One of his other gigs is playing the MGM logo.

Quoted: Jones, the voice of Mufasa, on the joys of working in animation: “You’re totally liberated from the self-consciousness of working with a camera or on stage. You can just wig out.”

Money Matters: Tickets started at $150 for children and $500 for adults with packages as high as $10,000. Disney matched what ticket sales brought in, making it a net of $800,000 for the California Institute of the Arts.

Hollywood Lessons: Kids learn it’s better to be a fat cat donor because you get reserved seats downstairs. If not, you scramble for what’s left in the balcony. Adults learn the Walk of Shame Shuffle as they pass peers on the way to cheaper reserved seats in the front rows.