Disney’s remake of The Lion King, which dropped on July 19, made the box office its kingdom during its opening weekend. With a cast full of major celebrities — including Beyoncé, Donald Glover, James Earl Jones, Seth Rogen, and Billy Eichner — we expected the movie to do well, but its growing ticket sales have officially sunk their claws into record-breaking grounds. The film has now managed to surpass the long-standing record held by Frozen, raking in $1.334 billion (as of Aug. 11) at the global box office after opening in Japan, knocking Anna and Elsa and their $1.276 billion out of the top spot, according to Box Office Mojo.
Within the first three days of its release, the Jon Favreau-directed visual masterpiece raked in a whopping $185 million from 4,756 North American theaters. This made it the best domestic launch for a PG-rated film as well as the highest grossing film in the month of July. The monstrous profit also meant it had the second-best domestic debut of the year, coming behind Marvel’s Avengers: Endgame.
Ironically, news of The Lion King‘s big opening weekend comes around the same time Marvel Studios — which is owned by Disney — was celebrating Endgame‘s monumental accomplishment of becoming the number one movie of all time, topping James Cameron’s 2009 sci-fi fantasy Avatar. I imagine the people at Disney’s HQ are having a massive party right now — hopefully while listening to Beyoncé’s new Lion King-inspired album.
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