Disney were working on Pocahontas, which was released almost exactly a year after The Lion King, at the same time — and by their bet, they expected Pocahontas to be the bigger hit. So convinced were they that Pocahontas would be the bigger hit, they assigned their ‘A’ team of animators to work on it while their ‘B’ team toiled on The Lion King. In the end, The Lion King grossed more than three times the global box office of Pocahontas, making almost a billion dollars in cinemas. And remember how much cheaper going to the movies was in 1994? The Lion King is the biggest animated movie of the last 50 years in terms of estimated attendance.