The Lion King was appealing just because it's The Lion King. And it underperformed because it wasn't good.
And it's not so simple when it comes to that movie, apart from its issues, one of the factor affecting its quality was voice acting i suppose.
But i watched a version where voice acting was top notch and which wasn't lifeless, and had emotions, so it automatically makes it higher than English version.
Now it doesn't make it that good obviously, but atleast i didn't watch in theatre a completely lifeless and soulless version because people who dubbed in my country actually put effort into it.
Still wasn't a great movie and it underperformed, it could've done more, much more.