We were saddened to learn of the recent passing of animator and director Roger Allers at the age of 76. Throughout much of the world, and especially among furry fans, Allers will always be remembered as one half of the team that directed Disney’s The Lion King in 1994 (along with Rob Minkoff). The landmark movie remains the highest-grossing 2D animated film of all time. Later, Allers would apply his talents to the adaptation of The Lion King as a very successful Broadway musical (under director Julie Taymor). But many people don’t realize just how many interesting (and furry!) animation projects Roger Allers worked on over the course of his career. He began as an animator and character designer on the Animalympics TV specials (which would later be cobbled together into a feature film). He spent some time in Canada working as an animator on Nelvana’s feature film Rock & Rule. Moving on to Disney Animation, he worked as a storyboard artist on Oliver & Company, The Little Mermaid, and The Rescuers Down Under, before being promoted to Head of Story on Beauty and the Beast. After the (actually unexpected!) world-wide success of The Lion King, Allers was hard at work on a film called Kingdom of the Sun — but he left the project before it got turned into The Emperor’s New Groove under director Mark Dindal. After he left Disney, Allers became co-director (with Jill Culton) on Sony Pictures’ first animated feature, Open Season. Furry fandom owes a lot to the work of this talented artist. He will definitely be missed. Blessed Be.
image c. 2026 Disney Enterprises, Inc.
