Disney's latest adaptation roared at the box office, setting a new record for July openings.
The Lion King reigned supreme over the weekend.
The Disney film brought in a whopping $185 million domestically. Alongside the film’s international haul, the global box office for the film is $531 million. Although, the movie already had a sizable head-start before opening in American multiplexes. The previous weekend the African adventure premiered in China, earning $55 million.
Disney’s photo-real film, voiced by everyone from Beyonce to Seth Rogen to Donald Glover, also managed to break the record for the biggest July opening on record, which was previously held by Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 ($169.1 million).
And this is just beginning of the good news for Disney. At Comic-Con 2019 on Saturday, it was announced that Avengers: Endgame had finally surpassed Avatar to become the highest-grossing worldwide release of all time. The gargantuan ensemble film’s total comes to $2.79 billion, beating out Avatar’s $2.788, which managed to stay on top for a decade.
In June, two months after the film’s initial release, Marvel Studios re-released Endgame with an introduction and a new post-credits scene in a bid to get fans back to the theater and push their box office numbers over the top -- and the strategy looks to have done the job.
The release of The Lion King was also bolstered by not one but two soundtracks, the second of which, The Lion King: The Gift, was created by Beyonce as a tribute to the film’s story – and even features a performance from her daughter, Blue Ivy Carter.
ET caught up with some of the film’s cast and crew at the premiere earlier this month, where they discussed closely watching the audience’s reactions during the screening.
"It was also the first time getting to see it with young kids,” director Jon Favreau explained. “Like, 'Oh wow!' Even [with] the original Lion King people think of the funny stuff, but there's a big emotional roller coaster and with all the young kids, they were hanging in there."
See more on The Lion King below.
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