Indeed, there will be another virtual game on The Lion King 1-1/2 DVD to be released Feb. 10, 2004. Only this time the roller coaster experience will be patterned after Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride, with a lot more humor and Lane on hand to voice Timon.

20% of Lion King was repurposed for Virtual Safari.

Siditsky adds that the initial challenge was how to make the game appealing as a set-top experience, “since we’re competing with so many others, and how do we relate it to The Lion King and enhance the experience within this theme park-style ride on DVD. There was a lot of trial and error and the script writing was something that we wanted to make sure was engaging enough and had some adult humor too.”

Meanwhile, from an animation standpoint, the trick was how to repurpose the movie into the game. “The challenge on any of these things is to really try to get the quality up to the level of the movie,” adds Dave Bossert, a producer/artistic coordinator on Virtual Safari, who served as an FX animator on The Lion King back in ‘95. “You know you’re never going to do that due to time and budget restraints, but that’s the goal. And I think in this particular case, the lushness, the fun of it and the amount of information shows [after six months of work].”

The creative success of Virtual Safari has given Disney impetus to include another game on The Lion King 1-1/2 DVD next year.

Bossert, who currently works at DisneyToon Studios, says they wound up combining traditional and CG elements throughout the game. For instance, when Timon and Pumbaa are in their jeep and get stuck in the famous “Wildebeast Stampede,” the animators put in a different environment. “We took some beautiful backgrounds from the movie and cut them apart digitally and created a new jungle along the riverbank, layering in new materials.”

Bossert suggests that this is the first time there’s been such a synergy at the studio among the home entertainment and animation divisions and outside vendors. “It was a very creative environment with a lot of conversations going on without the typical ‘you’re supposed to do this and you’re supposed to do that.’ I spent a number of hours at John Ross’ shop at Gork Enterprises and it was a very collaborative process. We supplied them with digital images that were projection mapped onto billboards. They put together the CG elements and digital artwork and built the environments. I helped them match the look of the film, such as when repurposed monkeys jump up and down on the bow of the jungle cruiser.”

Bossert estimates that about 20% of The Lion King was repurposed for Virtual Safari. “We were able to use environmental bits from the movie so that it felt like you were going through part of the Pridelands as opposed to starting from scratch.”

Bill Desowitz is the editor of VFXWorld.