I met someone very cool when I saw The Lion King in IMAX theaters...

Did any of you guys see The Lion King in the IMAX theaters, I did, and I have a story to tell...

Well, about the first week of the year, I looked on Disney?s Lion King site to find an IMAX theater near me. I have never been to an IMAX theater before, and neither has my mom or sister, so we had no idea where to go. There was one in my city, and it was the Hackworth IMAX Dome Theater at The Tech Museum of Innovation. So I called the place, and I got a recording. And they said they were having a special animation weekend, January 18th and 19th, and they said, ?Meet Michael Surrey, the supervising animator of Timon.? And I was so excited! I could meet one of the Lion King animators! So my mom ordered tickets in advance for the 18th. (This IMAX Theater is in a Tech Museum, so we bought tickets to see The Lion King and go to the Museum, so I could meet Michael Surrey.) We went to the Museum at 10:00 a.m. when it opened, and looked around the Museum for a while. Then we went into the IMAX theater at about 11:30 a.m., because the movie started at 12:00 p.m. And The Lion King looked and sounded great on the giant screen! And the IMAX theater I went to was a Dome Theater, so the movie curved around you. I also heard other IMAX screens are flat. What kind of IMAX screen did you guys see The Lion King on? Also that day, I wore my Adult Nala shirt that was made for me that was air brushed at Disney World almost 6 years ago, (And it still fits me) and many people asked me about it. Many people were wearing The Lion King on Broadway shirts, but I had a unique Lion King shirt! Lots of people asked me if I made it. But it was made at Disney World, I picked out the picture of Nala, and then this machine air painted the picture on my shirt.

After the movie was over, we went to see Michael Surrey, and he did a 30 minute presentation on about animating his character Timon. Also, Tony Bancroft, the supervising animator of Pumbaa was in the audience, Michael Surrey pointed him out. My mom asked him if it was his idea to have Pumbaa pass gas, and he laughed, and said, ?No, that was the director?s idea.? After Michael was done, a lot of people went up to talk with him. My mom and I went up to talk to him after most people left. I asked if I could have his autograph and he drew a picture of Timon for me! I asked him if he could write To Audra on it (because that?s my name) and he did, and he signed the picture! I was so happy! I also asked him if he still worked for Disney, and he said yeah, and told me some of the movies he worked on. Even though I am not a big fan of Simba?s Pride, I asked him what he thought about what those animators did with Timon, and how he thought they worked with him. He said the animation was ok, but the animators that worked on Simba?s Pride didn?t even use his model sheets. But he said what really killed him was The Timon and Pumbaa Show. LOL. I said yeah, the animation in that show isn?t the greatest! After he drew me the picture, I shook his hand and thanked him. My mom later said that day, ?We should of taken a picture of you with him!? I didn?t even think of that! I wish I did! But I still have that picture of Timon he drew for me! I got it framed too! I also bought a Lion King book at their souvenir shop, called, A Giant Leap, and it has an Introduction by Don Hahn about transfering the movie to the IMAX screen and making the movie. It also has a lot of artwork. I also bought a young Simba Key Chain.

It was a great day. Seeing The Lion King in IMAX, and that was the first movie I ever saw in an IMAX theater! I met Michael Surry, I talked to him, and he drew me a picture of Timon and signed it.

Here, I scanned the picture before I framed it, and here it is:
http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2003-11/487930/Timon.jpg

And you know the character portrait drawings that come with the Collector's DVD Gift Set? The sketch Michael drew for me looks a lot like that picture!

Update (4-14-05): That picture I scanned a long time ago, I can't find it, it's somewhere on my old computer. So I took a picture of the framed sketch Michael did for me, sorry for the poor quality:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...rl85/timon.jpg

Only thing that i can say now is... Wow :wow:

Great story. =)

Hmm, the link doesn't work. :(

That sounded cool Sharifu! Too bad I never TLK on the IMax theater, or even in theaters back in 94'.:alone:

Wow, awesome story Sharifu! Nice to see there were promotions all around for the IMAX release!

At our IMAX theatre, there was an environmental awareness group with lots of animals to educate people about before and after the movie. There were snakes and birds and OMGAPUMANAMEDPETUNIA. She was so cute. I got my picture taken with her. Here it is. I'm next to the guy (my sister's boyfriend) on the left. I look funny because it's a polaroid.

http://www.furnation.com/Mariah/petunia.jpg

Hmm, that's weird how the link wont work. Hey Mufasa or Sarabi, if I sent the picture to one of you, would you upload it for me? :D

Sounds like a great GREAT day! *envies you*

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Originally posted by Sharifu
Hmm, that's weird how the link wont work. Hey Mufasa or Sarabi, if I sent the picture to one of you, would you upload it for me? :D

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You must make it public at village photo's :evilgrin:
Go to the picture you want to make public, then press the "Image URL, Tools and recours page" link. Look at the top of the new page, have fun :jejeje:

Oh, thank you Falia! I made the picture public, and I edited my post, so the link should work now. I never used Village Photo's before, so thanks for the help! :-)

No problem :evilgrin:! The picture looks awsome, you are very lucky :)

Nice! Way to go Sharifu!

WOW! lucky :D

O! That rules! Lucky you!
*jealous*

Lucky Lucky Lucky !!!

Hey I uploaded that image onto my server for you. I notice it isn't working agian.

So here you go!

http://lionkingdomain.com/Timon.jpg

Nice one :)

:wow: Wow!

thats amazingly cool!!!! lucky son of a ...

WOW! I would LOVE to have been there! A friend of mine CLAIMS to have met Nathan Lane himself on the subway in New York supposedly while he was starring in "The Producers." That would be great but this particular friend has a tendency to spin a yarn or two. Kind of like Chunk from the Goonies. Sort of looks like him too come to think of it..... :wicked:

a little late but, wow! your so lucky!=D

Never is too late to post.

*weeeeeeeeeeeee* Muahahaha~! Good times, good times... :idiot:

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Originally posted by Sonique21837?
*weeeeeeeeeeeee* Muahahaha~! Good times, good times... :idiot:

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I remember this like it was yesterday......:D


So freakin' awesome, Sharifu.:cheese:

Wow you guys this topic is old. ;) But I still have that picture framed in my room. :cheese:

Wow, this is an interesting story.

Somehow, threads like this shouldn't vanish I am happy that someone digged it up.


I saw the Lion King back when it came out at the cinema.

It was my favorite cinema, a smaller one which has now closed because of those big cinema chains :P. I even met the german voice of Rafiki there, it was a coincidence and I didn't even notice until I saw a photo of him some weeks later, it happened when we went to see "The fearless Four" a munich animation Movie, he voiced the rooster, so I think that's why he saw the movie, but he died some years ago.
I also saw it in Imax, but on a flat screen, so much details I never noticed before.

But that's nothing like meeting one of the TLK animators ;)
A pity that there isn't a Lion King convention where you can meet the cast, like there are Star Trek conventions.

It took me some time to realise how old this thread is; I didn't notice that until the end of the discussion. Anyway, I'm _soooo_ jealous at Sharifu, that story was impressive. I want to meet TLK animators as well, and get an autograph _and_ a drawing. Or at least get to see TLK in IMAX (as far as I know, there are no IMAX theaters in Finland).

Cool story :D


We have an IMAX in Belgium, but no Lion King :(

Only Beaty and the Beast, as far as I can remember.

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Originally posted by Sharifu
Wow you guys this topic is old. ;) Now, Sonique you better post or I'll... </manipulated post>

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Well, it's your fault, for forcing me to post. (what are you doing with that chair?) @.@...

:idiot: :lol: :cheese:

:lol: ;)

Yes I am very lucky that I got to meet a TLK animator, I was so happy! :cheese: I just wish I had gotten a picture taken with him! Why didn't I think of that?! Oh well. ;) Reading this post again brings back memories. =D The Lion King isn't playing in IMAX anymore of course... It started in the IMAX in Decemeber 25 2002, to April or May of 2003. So yeah that day I went to the IMAX and met Michael, was January 18, 2003.

Hey Leopatra, I saw TLK in the regular theaters too back in 1994. Two times. 1994 was a great year. :cheese:

Lucky you...;)

This is the Omnimax here....:hmm:
http://www.pierluigisurace.it/imager...ence_World.jpg

That is so awesome. Back when Lion King was in theaters, I didn't go to see it because I was just a little kid. And when it came out recently in IMAX, I wasn't anywhere near as interested in TLK then as I am now, and IMAX tickets are expensive. I really wish I could have seen it, but now I fear :gasp: it is too late:( :( :( And I highly doubt that Disney will ever release Lion King in theaters again. They probabally feel they've pulled enough $ out of it. TLK, TLK2, TLK 1.5, Timon and Pumba TV Series, TLKoB, TLK IMAX. I really think I've missed my chance. But very very cool picture. If I could meet any TLK animator of my choice, I would want to meet the head animator of Adult Simba. I just love the way he is drawn. But If I could meet any animator I would be happy :cheese:

I remember seeing the Lion King in theatres in 1994.....first movie I ever say in theatres..I was 10..:cheese:

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Originally posted by lion_roog
I remember seeing the Lion King in theatres in 1994.....first movie I ever say in theatres..I was 10..:cheese:

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Lucky, I was only 5 years old, so I dont remember much about it at all. All I remember was that I thought that Scar was awesome... and my parents were kind of shocked that I liked Scar the best.

I was 7 when I went to go see it. I remember going to the theater to see TLK, but I remember very little of actually watching it though, I remember a tiny bit though, like the CYFTLT scene I remember pretty clearly on the big screen.
:rawr:

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Originally posted by Kintaru
I was 7 when I went to go see it. I remember going to the theater to see TLK, but I remember very little of actually watching it though, I remember a tiny bit though, like the CYFTLT scene I remember pretty clearly on the big screen.
:rawr:

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I remember the Scar talking to Mufasa scene, and vaguely the stampede scene (although I had NO idea what was really going on, and I didn't understand the story) and the Be Prepared scene.

very very koolsome, Sharifu.

I remember the first day I saw the TLK in theaters, very well actually.

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Originally posted by Sharifu
I remember the first day I saw the TLK in theaters, very well actually.

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Did ya have popcorn and a soda......because I remember having popcorn and a soda....it was great...:cheese:

Well, :lol: actually I don't remember that. I was too into the movie. ;) But I proabably did have popcorn and soda. :evilgrin:

i dont think i saw TLK when it was in cinemas :gasp:
i didnt start really liking TLK until 1998 :confused:....
but i did go to see it at IMAX twice :cheese:

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Originally posted by Sharifu
Well, :lol: actually I don't remember that. I was too into the movie. ;) But I proabably did have popcorn and soda. :evilgrin:

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Ya can't forget the popcorn and the soda......when Mufasa died, it made me sad.