Beauty and the Beast (1991 film) in the context of "Jo Anne Worley"

Michael Dammann Eisner (/ˈaɪznər/ EYEZ-nər; born March 7, 1942) is an American businessman and media proprietor who served as chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of the Walt Disney Company from September 1984 to September 2005. Prior to Disney, Eisner was president of rival film studio Paramount Pictures from 1976 to 1984, and had brief stints at the major television networks NBC, CBS, and ABC.

Eisner's 21-year stint at Disney saw the revitalization of the company's poorly performing animation studios with successful films such as The Little Mermaid (1989), Beauty and the Beast (1991), Aladdin (1992), and The Lion King (1994), a period known as the Disney Renaissance. Eisner additionally broadened the company's media portfolio by leading the acquisitions of ABC, most of ESPN and The Muppets franchise. Eisner also led major investments and expansion of the company's theme parks both domestically and globally, including the openings of Disney-MGM Studios (now Disney's Hollywood Studios) in 1989, Euro Disney (now Disneyland Paris) in 1992, Disney's Animal Kingdom in 1998, Disney's California Adventure Park and Tokyo DisneySea in 2001, Walt Disney Studios Park in 2002 and Hong Kong Disneyland in 2005.

The Disney Renaissance was a period from 1989 to 1999 during which Walt Disney Feature Animation returned to producing commercially and/or critically successful animated films. The ten feature films associated with this period are The Little Mermaid (1989), The Rescuers Down Under (1990), Beauty and the Beast (1991), Aladdin (1992), The Lion King (1994), Pocahontas (1995), The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996), Hercules (1997), Mulan (1998), and Tarzan (1999).

The films were mostly musical adaptations of well-known stories, similar to the films produced by Walt Disney from the 1930s to 1960s. The resurgence allowed Disney's animated films to become a powerhouse of successes at the domestic and foreign box office, earning much greater profits.

The Lion King is a 1994 American animated musical drama film directed by Roger Allers and Rob Minkoff, produced by Don Hahn, and written by Irene Mecchi, Jonathan Roberts, and Linda Woolverton. It was produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation, and features an ensemble voice cast consisting of Matthew Broderick, James Earl Jones, Jeremy Irons, Jonathan Taylor Thomas, Moira Kelly, Niketa Calame, Nathan Lane, Ernie Sabella, Whoopi Goldberg, Cheech Marin, Rowan Atkinson, and Robert Guillaume. The story follows a young lion prince named Simba, who is exiled from his kingdom after his father Mufasa is murdered by his uncle Scar to seize the throne. As he grows up, Simba must decide whether to return home to confront Scar and reclaim his place as king.

The Lion King was conceived during conversations among various Disney executives, to whom several writers submitted early treatments. Original director George Scribner had envisioned The Lion King as a nature documentary-style film, with Allers joining as co-director after having worked in the story departments of several successful animated Disney films. The Lion King's plot draws inspiration from several sources, notably William Shakespeare's play Hamlet. Woolverton, screenwriter for Disney's Beauty and the Beast (1991), drafted early versions of The Lion King's script, which Mecchi and Roberts were hired to revise once Woolverton left to prioritize other projects. Scribner departed due to disagreements over the studio's decision to reimagine the film as a musical, with original songs by Elton John and Tim Rice, and Minkoff was hired to replace him in April 1992. Throughout production, the creative team visited Kenya for research and inspiration.