The Lion King rules the box office with $185 million opening weekend
The Lion King has conquered the box office in emphatic fashion.
Disney’s photorealistic remake of its beloved 1994 animated movie is on track to earn an estimated $185 million at 4,725 theaters in the U.S. and Canada from Friday through Sunday, dominating the competition and scoring the biggest domestic launch ever for a PG-rated film. It also marks the highest July opening ever.
Heading into the weekend, The Lion King was projected to open in the $150 million to $175 million range. Overseas, it will add about $269.4 million through Sunday. The film opened in China last week and has earned $98 million there, bringing its worldwide total to about $531 million.
Directed by Jon Favreau, The Lion King features a star-studded voice cast that includes Donald Glover, Beyoncé Knowles-Carter, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Billy Eichner, Seth Rogen, and Alfre Woodard. Reviews have been mixed, but audiences gave the film an A CinemaScore.
The Lion King’s strong start comes on a banner weekend for Disney, as its Avengers: Endgame will also pass Avatar as the No. 1 film of all time at the global box office.
Overall box office is down 7.3 percent year-to-date, according to Comscore. Check out the July 19-21 numbers below.
1. The Lion King — $185 million
2. Spider-Man: Far From Home — $21 million
3. Toy Story 4 — $14.6 million
4. Crawl — $6 million
5. Yesterday — $5.1 million
6. Stuber — $4 million
7. Aladdin — $3.8 million
8. Annabelle Comes Home — $2.7 million
9. Midsommar — $1.6 million
10. The Secret Life of Pets 2 — $1.5 million