On the left, in an image from National Geographic’s LION, lions Summer and Kio move cautiously through the grassland, alert to their surroundings. On the right, an image of Mduduzi Madela as Simba in the Broadway production of Disney Theatrical Group’s The Lion King.

30 Roaringly Remarkable Fun Facts about Nat Geo’s LION and The Lion King on Broadway

By the D23 Team

National Geographic’s LION, now streaming on Disney+ and Hulu, tells the remarkable real-life tale—filmed over three years—of Kio, a tiny lion cub on the Maasai Mara as he becomes a king. Executive produced by Disney Legend and The Lion King live-action director Jon Favreau and BBC Studios Natural History Unit’s creative director Mike Gunton, LION goes beyond traditional wildlife documentaries to deliver a gripping true story all about power, politics, and personalities...

An image from Disney Theatrical Group’s The Lion King on Broadway, from the “Circle of Life” opening number.

Meanwhile, Disney Theatrical Group’s The Lion King on Broadway is about to celebrate its incredible 30th anniversary in 2027! The third longest-running musical in Broadway history, it’s been thrilling audiences both in New York City and around the world with its unique, Tony® Award-winning retelling of Walt Disney Animation Studios’ hit 1994 film, as originally helmed by Julie Taymor—the first woman to win the Tony® for Best Direction of a Musical.

In an image from National Geographic’s LION, members of Summer’s Pride stand scattered across the grassland.

To celebrate LION and The Lion King on Broadway, we’re taking a look at 30 roaringly remarkable fun facts about both. Whether in a real savanna or on a theatrical stage, the “circle of life” truly does move us all... (Note: There are some spoilers ahead for LION, so—as Scar might say—“Be prepared...”)

  • There have been 32 total productions of Disney Theatrical Group’s The Lion King to date.
  • LION is narrated by British actor O.J. Lynch—who played Mufasa in both the West End and German productions of The Lion King.
  • Total number of The Lion King stage musical visitors worldwide: over 130 million!
  • LION is the first natural history series to follow a lion throughout their full journey from a tiny cub to a king.
  • There are nine current productions of The Lion King worldwide: Broadway, London, Paris, Hamburg, Madrid, Tokyo, Mexico City, and on tour across North America and Australia.
  • In LION, Kio’s path to the throne is full of drama. He loses his aunt, his mother, and even his home. But over time, Kio proves himself an equal among his older brothers, becoming strong enough to fight rival males. Together he and his brotherhood take over a new pride of females, finally taking control over a new kingdom.

In an image from National Geographic’s LION, lion cub Kio walks in front of three lionesses, growing more confident as he keeps pace with them.

  • The Lion King has generated two productions worldwide running 20 or more years—and three others running 25 or more years!
  • The LION crew became experts and could identify up to 50 lions from different prides across the Mara by name and family relationships.
  • The Lion King has been translated into nine languages for the stage: English, Dutch, Japanese, French, German, Spanish, Korean, Portuguese, Mandarin.
  • LION’s filmmaking team gathered an estimated 1,000 hours of footage, and every shot of a lion was carefully logged.
  • Disney Theatrical Group’s The Lion King has played over 100 cities, in 38 countries, on every continent except Antarctica.
  • With 52 shoots and multiple edits running alongside filming, managing the LION production was a huge task for Jane Atkins (series producer), Alison Shouls (line producer), and the whole BBC Studios Natural History Unit team back in Bristol, England.
  • In New York City, The Lion King has set 33 Minskoff Theatre records since transferring there in 2006.

In an image from Disney Theatrical Group’s The Lion King on Broadway, Ntsepa Pitjeng-Molebatsi as Rafiki and company are seen during the “Circle of Life” opening number.

  • Through parts of the wet season in the Maasai Mara, Kio the cub couldn’t be followed by the LION crew as the plains became impassable.
  • Cumulatively, productions of Disney Theatrical Group’s The Lion King have run over 125 years!
  • The LION crew was the first to film with drones at their location, with special access to follow the prides wherever they went.
  • The Lion King is the winner of 72 major worldwide awards.
  • LION’s filmmaking team relied on a network of excellent local field guides to help them track the lions—who could be surprisingly hard to find when hidden in bushes or mile after mile of long grass.
  • Since The Lion King’s Broadway premiere, nearly 250 South Africans have been employed in one or more of the global productions as lead actors, ensemble dancers/singers, musicians, or members of the crew.
  • The LION production team lived in a camp without fences—so occasionally the lions would visit... and were even found sleeping on the porches of the crew's tents!

In an image taken during production of National Geographic’s LION, cinematographer Tania Escobar is seen looking out into the distance at Summer’s pride, ready to begin filming as soon as the action starts to unfold.

  • The yearly upkeep and maintenance of the 25 “Grasslands” headdresses per The Lion King production requires over 3,000 stalks of grass (roughly 60 pounds).
  • Legendary Academy Award®-winning composer Hans Zimmer leads the LION score, alongside Emmy-winning and GRAMMY®- and BAFTA-nominated Bleeding Fingers Music’s Niccolò Pacella and George Hutson Warren, with additional vocals from the Nairobi Chamber Chorus.
  • The tallest animals in The Lion King musical are the four, 18-foot exotic giraffes from “I Just Can’t Wait to Be King”—and the two giraffes seen in “Circle of Life” are each 14 feet high! Two actors trained in stilt-walking climb 5-foot ladders to fit inside the puppets; to “become” the giraffes, they mount their stilts and enter stage left to cross the stage.
  • In the LION editing process, the team dialed in subtle echoes of the original Lion King animated film, highlighting similar plot points with echoes in the music, narration, and tone. There are even some original music cues from The Lion King that have been licensed, rerecorded, and subtly used in the series alongside the main score.
  • The largest and longest animal in The Lion King is the elephant—nicknamed “Bertha” by the backstage crew when the show premiered in 1997. At 13 feet long and 9 feet wide, the puppet requires four actors to carefully walk her down the orchestra aisle. When not occupied by the actors, the puppet can collapse down flat for convenient backstage storage.
  • To create a more authentically local sound and feel for LION, the composers were invited to the Mara to work and record with Maasai singers and instrumentalists, and make sound recordings of lion roars, to create totally original layers in the music score.
  • The smallest animal in The Lion King is the trick mouse at the end of Scar’s cane—at just five inches!

In an image from Disney Theatrical Group’s The Lion King on Broadway, Pearl Khwezi as Nala, left, and Mduduzi Madela as Simba, right, are seen on stage.

  • The LION film crew logged nearly 1400 filming days across 52 shoots—the most time ever spent in the field exclusively filming one group of lions.
  • The Timon meerkat worn in The Lion King puppet weighs 15 pounds.
  • Through Kio’s story, the LION team also reveals the dynamics of male lions. There is rarely one single king, but rather there is a close-knit brotherhood of males that work together to rule. Power comes from unity, but in this case, Kio’s success also came down to the dedication of his remarkable mother.

Don’t miss National Geographic’s LION, now streaming on Disney+ and Hulu! And visit LionKing.com for tickets and more information on The Lion King on Broadway, as well as its tours and many productions worldwide.