The Lion King 1½ (also known as
The Lion King 3: Hakuna Matata outside of the United States and Canada) is a 2004 American
direct-to-video animated musical
buddy comedy-adventure film produced by
Walt Disney Pictures and
DisneyToon Studios and released by
Walt Disney Home Entertainment on February 10, 2004. The film was also theatrically released internationally and in selected cities in the United States. It is the third and final (Chronologically, the second) installment in the
Lion King trilogy. The DVD went to the
Disney Vault in January 2005. The film is a
prequel/parallel/
midquel to the 1994's
The Lion King, and focuses on the meerkat/warthog duo
Timon and
Pumbaa before, during and after the events of the original film. It's followed by a Disney television film,
The Lion Guard, which is advertised as the fourth feature-length animated made-for-TV film, November 2015.