Fresh Lion King should be the 'Lion Queen' - Zoologist

The hype for the new Lion King movie has been intense, but suggestions have been made that a few things in the live-action remake aren't quite right.

It's a dream made in movie marketing heaven laced with peril, but one zoologist says it doesn't accurately depict the life of a big cat.

Craig Saffoe, great cats curator at the Smithsonian's National Zoo in Washington, told The New York Times: "It's always a matriarch who actually leads a lion pride", suggesting Sarabi, Simba's mum, would have been more likely to lead instead of Mufasa.

In addition, Saffoe said the rivalry between Mufasa and Scar probably wouldn't have existed.

"It would have been highly unlikely for them to show aggression toward each other," Saffoe told The Times.

He said while it was possible one would have been more dominant over the other, "one of the females would have been dominant over both of them".

The movie did hit the nail on the head with one aspect of big-cat life, however. The affection Simba is shown by dad Mufasa was relatively accurate: "It is ridiculously cute," Saffoe told The Times.

And Disney doesn't fail to capture the beauty of lions, according to Dr Kim Young-Overton of Panthera - an organisation devoted to the conservation of wild cats.

"It looks like you are right there on the African plain watching them move," he told The Times. "And the more that people understand lions and their habitats, the more I hope we will be willing to protect them."

Fans of all ages helped The Lion King make Kiwi box office history as the biggest opening day for Disney Studio film in New Zealand. 

The remake also took the number three spot behind Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Avengers: Endgame as the country's biggest movie opening box office week of all time. 

Newshub.