Was there a different (and more intense) version of Mufasa’s death in the first run of the Lion King in theaters?
I don’t think so. Scar has the hyenas start a stampede of wildebeasts through the canyon. Mufasa saves Simba and then while trying to climb out, Scar pushes him and he falls down into the stampede.
Has that scene changed?
Not to my knowledge but two people today have told me that it changed.
Did they see it together at the time of the movie’s first release? Exactly how do they remember it? And do they remember it the same as each other?
Well, there *was *the version where Mufasa’s shrieks of pain and terror gradually give way to long, guttural moans as the camera slowly pans across his shattered, blood-stained body … was that the version you were thinking of?
I don’t remember Scar pushing Mufasa down. I remember Scar sinking his claws into Mufasa’s front paws/legs causing him to lose his grip and fall into the stampede.
I think it’s a bit of both - Scar sinks his claws in and then flings Mufasa off the cliff.
I saw it in the cinema when it was released, saw it again on IMAX, had it on VHS, DVD, and am tempted to get the BluRay. As far as I know the details are unchanged.
An extra song was added in the DVD version, and there was some small alterations to the animation, but otherwise it’s the same.
Long live the king.
I think it was more violent back then. But I was also 8 at the time, so that may have colored my memory.
i saw it several times when it was first run, saw it last september when it was re released in theaters, seen it several times in between. it hasn’t changed.
I liked all the slo-mo splattering blood in the Tarentino cut, but that may not have reached general release.
Do they remember the version where Mufasa was trying to rescue his mate and was shot by the hunter?
It always said “A New Hope” !
Scar shot first!
It probably WAS more shocking first run in the theater, but due to the viewers younger age and…that was a pretty shocking scene for a Disney flick at the height of the “Disneyfication” era of their films. It hailed back to Bambi, which many people found to be quite mentally scarring.
But as far as I can remember it, no, they didn’t change the actual film at any point.
(When my son was wee, he started obsessively playing this game where he’d line up all his stuffed animals on the couch, and then throw one to the floor, screaming “MURDER!” at the top of his little boy lungs. Rinse and repeat. “MURDER! MURDER! MUUUURRRRRDUUUURRRR!” Scared the crap out of us, until we figured out it was the redemption scene from The Lion King from a kiddo who couldn’t pronounce the final “-er” of murderer.)
Maybe they’re thinking of a scene from The Lion King Rises
That is so cute, disturbing, and funny.
Maybe you are thinking of the original scene where Scar lures him out to the causeway and he is killed at the tollbooth in a hail of machine gun fire?
I’m just glad they cut the scene in the basement of the pawn shop with the gazelle bound and totally covered in leather. Totally inappropriate.