June 15, 1994: Disney's animated film The Lion King premieres. This rewrite of William Shakespeare's foremost play, Hamlet, becomes their highest-grossing film ever. (Though, with inflation factored in, it's still topped by the 1937 version of Snow White.)
It's not an exact copy of Hamlet. The father, Mufasa (voice of James Earl Jones) is still alive for the beginning of the film. The usurping uncle, Scar (Jeremy Irons), doesn't marry the widowed queen, Sarabi (Madge Sinclair). The son (Matthew Broderick) doesn't stay, going into exile, before going back. He doesn't taunt his love interest, Nala (Moira Kelly) into insanity and suicide, and she joins him in his crusade. It isn't the son who directly causes the uncle's death. The son is still alive and on the throne at the end. And there's no equivalent to the hyenas in the original.
The film was successful enough to spawn a sequel, a Lion King 1 1/2 with the story told from the perspective of Timon (Nathan Lane) and Pumbaa (Ernie Sabella -- or, if you prefer, Rosencranz and Guildenstern), a live-action version, a live-action prequel about Mufasa, a video game, and an elaborately staged Broadway musical that premiered in 1997 and, as of June 15, 2022, is still running.
Let me close with this: Before we get on the Walt Disney Company for ripping off Shakespeare, let's note that they're far from the only ones:
* West Side Story is Romeo & Juliet, except that Juliet lives.
* Kiss Me Kate and 10 Things I Hate About You are both The Taming of the Shrew.
* Akira Kurosawa's Throne of Blood is Macbeth, moved from Scotland to Japan.
* The 1949 Edward G. Robinson film House of Strangers, set in what was then the present day, and the 1954 Western Broken Lance with Spencer Tracy are adaptations of King Lear.
* The 1983 version of Scarface is Richard III.
* The 1956 science fiction film Forbidden Planet and the Star Trek episode "Requiem for Methuselah" are both The Tempest. And Trek has gone to the well of Shakespeare many times. Star Trek: The Next Generation star Patrick Stewart got his start with England's Royal Shakespeare Company, and among his Shakespearean roles have been Shylock in stage productions of The Merchant of Venice in 1965 and 2011, Oberon in a 1978 stage production of A Midsummer's Night Dream, Claudius in film versions of Hamlet in 1980 and 2009, Prospero in 1995 and 2006 stage productions of The Tempest, the title role in a 1997 stage production of Othello, John Lear in the 2002 TV-movie King of Texas, Mark Antony in a 2006 stage production of Antony and Cleopatra, Malvolio in a 2007 stage production of Twelfth Night, the title role in a 2007 stage production and a 2010 TV-movie of Macbeth, John of Gaunt in a 2012 TV-movie of Richard II, and Shakespeare himself in a 2010 stage production of Bingo: Scenes of Money and Death and the 2011 animated film Gnomeo & Juliet.
And Shakespeare himself ripped off a lot of people. Most of his plays were based on previous writings.
*
June 15, 1994 was a Wednesday. Football was out of season. The Stanley Cup was awarded the night before, when the New York Rangers won Game 7 of the Finals over the Vancouver Canucks.
Game 4 of the NBA Finals was played at Madison Square Garden. The New York Knicks beat the Houston Rockets, 91-82.
And these Major League Baseball games were played:
* The New York Yankees lost to the Baltimore Orioles, 8-4 at Camden Yards in Baltimore. The O's scored 5 runs in the 8th inning to win the game. Don Mattingly went 2-for-4 with 3 RBIs. Cal Ripken went 0-for-3 with a walk.
* The New York Mets beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 1-0 at Shea Stadium. Bobby Jones pitched 8 innings of 4-hit shutout ball, and John Franco pitched a perfect 9th, to outpitch Mike Williams. The only run came in the bottom of the 6th, when Todd Hundley singled Jones himself home.
* The Montreal Expos beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 13-2 at the Olympic Stadium in Montreal.
* The Minnesota Twins beat the Boston Red Sox, 7-5 at Fenway Park in Boston.
* The Atlanta Braves beat the Colorado Rockies, 4-0 at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium. John Smoltz pitched 7 1/3rd innings of 4-hit shutout ball, followed by Mike Stanton allowing a hit in finishing the 8th inning, and Steve Bedrosian allowing a hit in the 9th.
* The Cleveland Indians beat the Toronto Blue Jays, 4-3 at Jacobs Field (now Progressive Field) in Cleveland. Jim Thome won it with a home run in the bottom of the 13th inning.
* The Oakland Athletics beat the Chicago White Sox, 7-5 at the new Comiskey Park (now Rate Field) in Chicago. Rickey Henderson went 4-for-5, but had no stolen bases or RBIs.
* The Milwaukee Brewers beat the Detroit Tigers, 11-7 at Milwaukee County Stadium.
* The Florida Marlins beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 13-3 at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis.
* The Kansas City Royals beat the California Angels, 4-3 at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City.
* The Seattle Mariners beat the Texas Rangers, 5-2 at The Ballpark (now Choctaw Stadium) in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas. Ken Griffey Jr. hit a home run.
* The Chicago Cubs beat the San Diego Padres, 5-0 at Jack Murphy Stadium in Chicago. How many Cubs does it take to pitch a 7-hit shutout? This time, 4: Steve Trachsel, 5 hits over 7; Dan Plesac, 1 over 2/3rd of an inning, José Bautista pitched to 1 batter and got him out, and Jim Bullinger 1 hit in the 9th. Tony Gwynn got 2 of those 7 hits.
* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 4-2 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles.
* And the Houston Astros beat the San Francisco Giants, 7-2 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. Barry Bonds went 2-for-4.
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