The Lion King almost had a soundtrack by ABBA

It's Lion King fever at the moment, with the release of the live-action remake of The Lion King starring Donald Glover and Seth Rogen. To accompany The Lion King, an album has also been released featuring music inspired by the new movie.

However, whilst the new film brings together new songs as well as some of the most iconic music from the original 1994 film, it seems the original film could have sounded very different from Elton John and Hans Zimmer's work.

According to a report by Polygon, the original Lion King film could have featured a soundtrack written by ABBA! The entertainment website reports composer Tim Rice originally contacted the Swedish pop group, with a view to potentially write the music for the new film.

Tim had just finished working on a project with Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus from ABBA, and it felt like the natural next step, however others in the team weren't so sure about the idea.

Speaking about the ABBA suggestion, Lion King producer Don Hahn said in the production notes, "It was a real head scratcher for a lot of us. But they ABBA couldn’t do it. There were conflicts — they got a tour or a new album they were working on or something.

"His next idea was Elton John, which to a degree was also a head scratcher because he hadn’t done a musical before."

According to the film's original production notes, Tom Schumacher who was the executive producer, told of the process of getting Elton John involved, saying, "We were terrified at first to even approach him, because we thought he might be extremely busy or difficult to work with."

WATCH: The Lion King cast are put to the test in The Big Quiz

Despite their apprehension, Elton John, who had worked with Tim Rice for many years, jumped at the chance saying, "I knew that Disney was a class act and I liked the storyline and the people immediately."

The original Lion King film was released in 1994 starring the voices of Matthew Broderick, and James Earl Jones, who also reprises his role of Mufasa, The King of the Pride Lands and the father of Simba, in the live-action remake.

Sir Elton recently attended The Lion King premiere having returned to Disney to rework his original songs for the remake with assisted by Beyoncé, who voices Nala in the film.

Now take a look through the cast of The Lion King with their animated counterparts...

The Lion King is now in cinemas.

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