There seems to be some confusion about The Lion King's Golden Globe nomination and why it landed in the Best Animated Feature category. Although Disney didn't submit the film to be considered for this category, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association -- the governing body of the Golden Globes -- thought differently.It really boils down to the logistics of what makes a movie "animated" versus "live-action." CNBC speculates Disney may have opted out of submitting it because the Jon Favreau remake is considered live-action by filmmakers. However, most of the film is computer-generated. HFPA rules dictate" Movement and characters’ performances must be created using a frame-by-frame technique. Each animated image must be created or manipulated by an animator through hand drawing, stop motion, pixilation, animation software or a similar technique."
The Lion King is among three other Disney movies up for the award, including Frozen 2 and Toy Story 4, which may also account for Disney not submitting it. However, a movie's creator gets to decide what it is, despite what award rules say. Favreau himself considers it live-action, although he revealed the opening sequence was the only section of the movie that was shot live.
Whether it's classified as animated or live-action probably doesn't make much difference to audiences, but it will for analysts. If it is an animated film, it's the highest-grossing one of all time, earning close to $1.66 billion worldwide. If not, that honor remains with 2013's Frozen.
Helmed by Jon Favreau, The Lion King features the voices of Donald Glover, Seth Rogen, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Alfre Woodard, Billy Eichner, John Kani, John Oliver, Florence Kasumba, Eric André, Keegan-Michael Key, JD McCrary, Shahadi Wright Joseph, Beyoncé Knowles-Carter and James Earl Jones.