20 things you did actually already know about The Lion King

The Lion King was released 20 years ago this month, so to celebrate its anniversary, here are 20 things that you actually did already know about the movie. Because sometimes it's just nice to be reminded.

1. The Lion King is a film about lions.

2. It was made by Disney.

3. The Lion King is not a live-action movie. It is animated.

4. The film's voice cast includes James Earl Jones, Matthew Broderick and Jeremy Irons.

5. Rowan Atkinson plays hornbill Zazu in the movie, but in real life, Rowan Atkinson is actually a human man.

6. The film's music was written and composed by Elton John and Tim Rice. Songs in the film include popular hits 'Can You Feel The Love Tonight', 'Hakuna Matata' and 'Circle Of Life', all of which you are probably somewhat familiar with.

7. The Lion King originally started off as a vague series of ideas in someone's head. Those ideas were then written down in script form, before eventually being animated frame by frame by Disney artists.

8. The Lion King was released in cinemas and also on VHS.

9. It was released in 1994. In cinemas.

10. The lead character's name is Simba. Simba the lion.

11. The movie is set in Africa, where lots of lions come from.

12. The Lion King is quite enjoyable.

13. In the movie, the animal characters can talk. Real animals cannot do this, but Disney decided that having the creatures converse with one another using the English language would make the film easier to follow.

14. There is a scene in The Lion King where a monkey holds a little lion cub or whatever over a rock and there's a guy singing over the top, going AAHHHHSSAAAWANNGGGAAAAHHH or something like that.

15. Just to reiterate: lions cannot talk. They can, however, roar.

16. Disney intended for The Lion King to be watched forwards; when asked if the movie could be watched backwards, they commented: "We would not recommend that at all."

17. The Lion King has no thematic similarities with the following films: Citizen Kane, RoboCop, The Unbearable Lightness Of Being, Spring Breakers, Gremlins, Russian Ark, Pi, Freddy Got Fingered and X-Men 2.

18. The Lion King has an IMDb page, as do many other films.

19. The movie ends with a list of credits, namechecking every single person who worked on the movie.

20. The Lion King is a film about lions. I realise I already mentioned this point before, but that does not change the fact that this is still something you did know about The Lion King.