'The Lion King' felt record-breaking box office love on its huge opening weekend
The (new) Lion King might have been met with a bit of a muted reaction from critics, but money speaks louder than reviews. Whether it was nostalgia, curiosity, the sheer magnetism of Beyoncé, or a combination of all of the above, audiences piled into cinemas for the remake like a wildebeest stampede, defying predictions (and a pretty squishy Rotten Tomatoes score) to set new box office records.
Disney’s photorealistic remake topped the box office on its opening weekend with a huge $185 million in U.S. theatres and $531 million overall worldwide. Analyst predictions had the domestic take sitting closer to $150 million.
While it’s technically counted (including by Mashable) as part of Disney’s slate of “live-action remakes”, it’s definitely still an animated film, no matter how you slice it -- meaning that it just edges out The Incredibles 2 for the biggest domestic opening weekend ever for an animated feature, as Pixar’s long-anticipated superhero sequel smash took $182.5 million on its first weekend last year.
It’s also the best domestic opening for a Disney remake, and Disney’s biggest non-Marvel, non-Star Wars opening ever, as well.
Those numbers are definitely more impressive than the paltry Rotten Tomatoes score, which currently sits at a less-than-ripe 54%. Reviews praised its visuals and a handful of voice performances but were largely still bemused as to why this remake is a thing in the first place.
With Avengers: Endgame also clambering past Avatar’s long-standing record over the weekend to finally snatch the biggest-ever global box office crown from James Cameron’s 2009 juggernaut, the weekend numbers meant no worries for Disney.
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.
