'The Lion King' is now the highest-grossing animated movie of all time
Frozen has held the record for the highest grossing animated film for nearly six years, but now it's going to have to let it go. (Sorry.)
The Lion King has surpassed the long-ruling princesses of Arendelle, hitting a global box office of $1.334 billion as of Aug. 11 after opening in Japan -- which puts it above Frozen's $1.276 billion, according to BoxOfficeMojo.
This year's "reimagining" of the beloved 1994 classic had a pretty lukewarm reception from critics, but the combination of 90s nostalgia and present-day Beyoncé seems to have worked better than distracting a mob of hyenas with an impromptu hula.
You could argue that its position atop the animated pile is a little tenuous given that it's part of Disney's slate of "live-action" remakes, but come on: "Photorealistic CGI" is still animation. Those are not real lions. (Sorry again.)
Also not in doubt: as well as becoming the 12th-highest grossing release ever, The 2019 Definitely Not Live-Action Lion King has also overtaken 2017's Beauty and the Beast as the most successful of Disney's remakes.
Safe to say the House of Mouse is not going to be slowing down on the computer-generated magic any time soon -- no matter what you want to call it, it's working.
Topics Disney
Caitlin is Mashable's Australian Editor. She has written for The Guardian, Junkee, and any number of plucky little music and culture publications that were run on the smell of an oily rag and have since been flushed off the Internet like a dead goldfish by their new owners. She also worked at Choice, Australia's consumer advocacy non-profit and magazine, and as such has surprisingly strong opinions about whitegoods. She enjoys big dumb action movies, big clever action movies, cult Canadian comedies set in small towns, Carly Rae Jepsen, The Replacements, smoky mezcal, revenge bedtime procrastination, and being left the hell alone when she's reading.
