Flashback: ‘The Lion King’ at the Oscars and Tonys

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With ‘The Lion King’ back in theaters -- this time in 3-D -- it felt right to look back at the 1994 Oscars, when a category had not yet been created for animated feature, so ‘The Lion King’ was marginalized to the tech races. It ended up nabbing four bids, all in the music slots. Three of its tunes competed for best song -- ‘Can You Feel the Love Tonight,’ ‘Circle of Life’ and ‘Hakuna Matata’ -- and, of course, ‘Love’ triumphed with Elton John and Tim Rice claiming the gold. ‘The Lion King’ also won best score for Hans Zimmer.

Soon afterward the hit film was transferred to the Broadway stage, where it finally reaped its lion’s share of kudos. In 1998, it won six Tony Awards including best musical, beating ‘Rag Time,’ ‘Side Show’ and ‘The Scarlett Pimpernel.’ Since it opened in November 1997, it has run continuously for more than 3,000 performances, becoming Broadway’s seventh-longest-running musical.

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-- Tom O’Neil