The Lion is a movie.
The lion ( Panthera leo ) is one of the big cats in the genus Panthera and a member of the family Felidae . Lion is a 2016 biographical film directed by Garth Davis ( in his feature debut ) and written by Luke Davies , based on the non-fiction book A Long Way Home by Saroo Brierley with Larry Buttrose . The film stars Dev Patel , Rooney Mara , David Wenham and Nicole Kidman . The film , which had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 10 , 2016 , was given a limited release on November 25 , 2016 , by the Weinstein Company before opening generally on January 6 , 2017 .