The Lion King Simba is given some valuable perspective from his childhood friend, Nala, and his shaman, Rafiki, before returning to challenge Scar to end his tyranny and take his place in the Circle of Life as the rightful King. Development of "The Lion King" began in 1988 during a meeting between Jeffrey Katzenberg, Roy E. Disney, and Peter Schneider while promoting "Oliver & Company" in Europe. Thomas Disch wrote a film treatment, and Woolverton developed the first scripts, while George Scribner was signed on as director, being later joined by Allers. Production began in 1991 concurrently with "Pocahontas", which wound up attracting
Kimba the White Lion Symphonic Poem" (by Isao Tomita) was released on LP in 1966. As a number of media journalists and fans watched Disney's animated feature film "The Lion King" they noticed characters and events in the story resembling those of "Kimba". Although the two works follow different screenplays, there are strong artistic similarities, and "The Lion King" contains numerous sequences that closely match "Kimba"′s. Other similarities are thematically deeper and more pronounced, such as that both feature the theme of the circle of life. Alleged similarities in the characters, beginning with the protagonist lion cubs "Kimba" and "Simba", include the evil lions,