When ‘Lion King’ was nothing to roar about

When “The Lion King” was in production, it was perceived as a B movie, recalls Don Hahn, producer of the 1994 film that until this summer was the highest-grossing animated film ever. “It was hard to get people to work on it while we were making it,” he acknowledges. “Then to look back on it [after] 10 years and eight Broadway companies playing around the world and the DVD coming out, you think, how did we ever get to that point?”

The DVD version of “The Lion King” goes on sale today in a two-disc set ($30).

Hahn says that when the project first went into production in the early ‘90s, “Lion King” was perceived as a “dusty National Geographic documentary. A lot of people wanted to work on ‘Pocahontas,’ which was very exciting at the time and up and coming.”

The animation division, he says, was split into two units. “There was a ‘Pocahontas’ unit and the ‘Lion King’ gang. What happened was an advantage because the people who were on ‘Lion King’ were hungrier. They were like, ‘We might be underdogs but we were going to try to do something that’s a little riskier.’ ”

Hiring pop star Elton John to write the score instead of a Broadway composer was also bit of a risk. “It doesn’t seem like it now, but it was a new thing,” says Hahn. “So in a funny way it made us braver to try new things.”

It seems to have worked: The U.S. theatrical gross for “The Lion King” is just shy of $313 million; “Pocahontas” topped out domestically at a bit less than $142 million.

Hahn says the two-disc set attempts to be an “evening of entertainment” for the family. “There are games for the kids, art galleries, interviews and documentaries and a special sound mix we put on specially for home theaters.”

The big extra is the addition of a new song, “Morning Report,” which is featured in the Tony-winning Broadway show. It’s a bouncy comic number between Zazu the bird and little Simba that takes place right after Mufasa shows Simba the Pridelands. “It was never intended to be in the movie, but we thought [that] of all the songs in the Broadway show, it is the one were you can take a little detour [from the main story] and go find out what happened in that moment and then come back to the main plot.” The disc allows viewers the option to see the new version of the film or the original theatrical release.

The discs also include enjoyable commentary from Hahn and the film’s directors, Rob Minkoff and Roger Allers; a “making of” documentary on “Morning Report”; a singalong track; three deleted/abandoned scenes, including the original opening of “Hakuna Matata” sung by Timon; and an early version of “Can You Feel the Love Tonight” sung by Timon and Pumba.

The numerous documentaries focus on varying aspects of making the film, including home movies made by the animators as they visited Africa for inspiration, as well as mini-documentaries, geared for the small fry, on the various animals portrayed in the film.

However, there are several aspects of the collection that seem more like commercials -- notably the hefty section of Disc 2 that focuses on the Broadway production of “Lion King”; previews of the upcoming movie prequel “The Lion King 1 1/2”; a new music video of “Circle of Life” that features young stars of Disney Channel series; plus a “making of” of the music video. So have your remote handy to skip those parts.

“The Lion King” arrives on DVD at a time when traditional animated films like it seem to be on their way out. For the first time in its history, Disney doesn’t even have a traditional animated film in production. And it was a 3-D animated film, Pixar/Disney’s “Finding Nemo,” which arrives next month on VHS and DVD, that dethroned “The Lion King” this summer as box office champ. “Nemo” has grossed more than $335 million

But Hahn says the stories of traditional animation’s demise are greatly exaggerated. “I think there is a love affair going on with computer graphics because it is fantastic and Pixar is making great movies,” he says. “But you have to look at people out there not only from Disney but in Japan and the whole anime thing -- movies like ‘Spirited Away.’ They are such beautiful personal expressions. I feel like people will always want to have the ability to make a movie graphically by hand.”

Hahn continues, “I would like to think, and I could be wrong, that it is not about the technique, it is about the story and the characters -- and, given the right movie and right story to tell graphically, there is nothing more beautiful than a children’s storybook coming to life. I think there will always be a place for that.”