The Lion King (musical) the record previously held by "The Phantom of the Opera". "The Lion King" musical has grossed nearly as of 2017. As the sun rises, Rafiki the mandrill calls the animals to Pride Rock. She greets King Mufasa and Queen Sarabi before presenting their cub to the gathered animals ("Circle of Life"). Elsewhere, Mufasa's brother, Scar, laments his lost chance at becoming King. Back at her baobab tree, Rafiki paints an image of the cub and asks the spirits to conjure the new prince's name: Simba. Time passes and Simba grows into a lively young cub ("Grasslands Chant"). Mufasa shows Simba
Simba more seasoned animators gravitated towards "Pocahontas" because "The Lion King "was deemed a "risk", while less experienced animators were assigned to work on "The Lion King". Co-director Rob Minkoff received this positively, saying that this decision "gave a lot of newer animators a chance to step up to leadership roles." The role of animating Simba was divided between Ruben A. Aquino and Mark Henn, the former of whom was the first animator to be assigned to the project. While Henn served as the supervising animator of Simba as a cub, credited as Young Simba, Aquino was placed in charge of