The lions are secondary antagonists of Arthur Christmas. They don't tolerate Arthur, Bryony and Grandsanta and keep them from leaving their land in Africa, presumably to try and eat them.
History[]
When Arthur, Brynory and Grandsanta arrived in Africa, the crows flew away and the lions surrounded them. Arthur sang a lullaby whilst swaying his Christmas slippers to put them to sleep, but they woke up when the sleigh's communication feature was activated. The lions gave chase and hopped on into Evie the sleigh, and got distracted and wrapped by Bryonry and knocked out by Grandsanta's pet. When the trio got away, the two lions chased the reindeer and Arthur used the blue magic flying dust to save them, leaving animals floating in the air, as later covered by the news world.