Criticism of The Walt Disney Company 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, the one-eyed Claw and Scar, the sage baboons Dan'l Baboon and Rafiki, the animated birds Pauley Cracker and Zazu, and the pair of hyena sidekicks (it was a trio in the Disney film). "The Lion King" co-director Rob Minkoff deflected criticism of similarities in the characters by stating it was "not unusual to have characters like a baboon, a bird or hyenas" in films set in Africa. Both films feature the protagonist looking up
The Lion King Andre, Florence Kasumba, Keegan-Michael Key, JD McCrary and Shahadi Wright Joseph joining the cast as the voices of Azizi, Shenzi and Kamari, young Simba and young Nala, respectively while Hans Zimmer would return to score the film's music. On November 28, 2017, it was reported that Elton John had signed onto the project to rework his musical compositions from the original film. Production for the film began in May 2017. It is scheduled for release on July 19, 2019. Along with the film release, three different video games based on "The Lion King" were released by Virgin Interactive in December