The Lion King Movies Could Be Expanded Into a Star Wars-Like Franchise, Disney Exec Says

Could the Lion King movies one day be as big as Star Wars? That’s the hope at Disney, as producer Sean Bailey believes there’s a lot of potential in the future of the franchise. Bailey, who’s served as president of Walt Disney Studios Motion Picture Production since 2010, has also been overseeing the company’s live-action remakes. That includes the live-action Beauty and the Beast, which earned $1.3 billion at the box office, along with Aladdin, which pulled in another $1.1 billion. The Little Mermaid is also on track to pass the $1 billion mark at the box office, having garnered over $326 million and counting since its recent release.

But what stands above the rest is the photorealistic adaptation of The Lion King, which released in theaters in 2019. Under Bailey’s watch, that film reached $1.7 billion, prompting Disney to give the go-ahead to develop a follow-up film. That will be in the form of a prequel called Mufasa: The Lion King, delving into the origins of Simba’s father and his relationship with his nefarious brother Scar. Whether the new film reaches the same levels of success as its predecessor remains to be seen, but there could be a lot more to come with movies in the photorealistic Lion King world if that’s what ends up happening.

“There’s a lot of room to run if we can find the stories,” Bailey tells the New York Times of further expanding the world of The Lion King, noting that it could even develop into a “big, epic saga” similar to Star Wars.

Related: Should The Lion King Live-Action Sequel Have Adapted The Lion King 2: Simba’s Pride Instead?

Could The Lion King Have a World as Massive as Star Wars?

The Star Wars franchise is massive, given how many feature films and various TV shows exist in that universe. It would be an uphill battle for any franchise to face if the goal is to match Star Wars in terms of expanding the world of a cinematic universe. But if you go past focusing on the lions and get into the lives of other creatures in that world’s animal kingdom, there is certainly potential to explore that world for as long as filmgoers continue spend big bucks to see these movies.

We’ll first wait and see how Mufasa: The Lion King performs. The film features the voices of Aaron Pierre and Kelvin Harrison Jr. as Mufasa and Scar, respectively. Billy Eichner and Seth Rogen are also reprising their voice roles as Timon and Pumbaa, while John Kani is also back as the voice of Rafiki. Barry Jenkins directs the movie with the screenplay by Jeff Nathanson.

There was previously an animated movie released in 1994. That was followed by the direct-to-video sequels, 1998’s The Lion King 2: Simba’s Pride and 2004’s The Lion King 1 1/2. Timon and Pumbaa were given their own animated series in the 90s while the franchise would also launch a separate animated series, The Lion Guard, in 2016. That followed the TV movie that set up the series, The Lion Guard: Return of the Roar.

Mufasa: The Lion King will be released in theaters on July 5, 2024.