The Lion King was basically guaranteed to be a hit from the moment the film was announced. After its first weekend in theaters in North America it became clear just how big it's going to be when the film grossed more than $190 million. But that's just a fraction of the film's actual box office total, as the global number has already crossed the $500 million mark.
The Lion King opened in some international territories a week earlier than it did in North America, so the movie had been open for a total of 10 days in some places when it finished its opening weekend here. That extra time, combined with the fact that the movie in question is The Lion King, has led to an impressive box office, as the movie has, according to Deadline, already grossed a total of $543 million worldwide.
Needless to say, a half billion dollar haul in barely over a week is impressive. Even for a movie that was expected to set records, it's clear that The Lion King is going to do everything at the box office that was expected, and possibly more. The film is already the seventh highest grossing movie of the year worldwide, and sixth highest grossing movie domestically.
The Lion King is only going to bulk up these numbers, because there really isn't any competition coming on the horizon. While there are a couple of major releases coming in the next couple weeks, neither of them are likely to eat into The Lion King to any great degree. Quentin Tarantino's Once Upon A Time...In Hollywood and the Fast and Furious spinoff Hobbs & Shaw are looking at totally different audiences.
Considering that the new Quentin Tarantino movie was only ever projected to book $60 million in business, and now is looking like it may do less than that, it means The Lion King will almost certainly win the box office again next weekend, considering the film could see a nearly 50% drop in business and still do $100 million in ticket sales next weekend.
The original Lion King came up just short of the $1 billion mark and it seems the remake is destined to break that barrier. It will likely be the fourth Disney movie of 2019 to do so. Avengers: Endgame and Captain Marvel have already done it and Aladdin is just behind them at $989 million after this past weekend and will almost certainly hit that milestone by next weekend.
Of course, The Lion King's success comes in the face of critics that have mostly called the film uninspired for the way to remains so true to the original story. It's not unheard of for a film to do this kind of business while critics pan it, but it is a rare occurrence for the difference to be so great.
The Lion King is in theaters now.
