By Chris Kavan - 07/21/19 at 09:06 PM CT
There was little doubt that Disney's live-action/CGI version of The Lion King was going to win the weekend, but even though critics may have been unimpressed, audiences were more than happy with the results, propelling the film to some new records. While The Lion King dominated, Disney has other reasons to celebrate as Avengers: Endgame has enough in the tank to dethrone Avatar as the highest-grossing worldwide release of all time - and Spider-Man: Far from Home become the highest-grossing Spider-Man film worldwide as well. The Lion King also helped this weekend top the same weekend in 2018 - in fact, it made more on its own than the combined top 12 of last year. All in all, it was good news all around.
1) THE LION KING
Disney's venture in turning their animated classics into new live-action classics has once again hit it out of the park. While critics weren't keen on this updated Lion King, audiences were more than happy to support it, to the tune of $185 million. That is a new record opening for July, topping Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2 ($169.2 million) with ease, as well as the largest opening for a PG-rated film and the largest opening for an animated film (some may argue this is not "animated" but it's mostly CGI so I would argue it's totally animated despite the fact it's trying to appear like a live action film) topping The Incredibles 2 ($182 million). It helped that it also opened on a record number of screens (4,725). As said, critics were a bit harsh to the tune of just 54% on Rotten Tomatoes, but audiences were a completely different story, awarding the film an "A" with 53% female and split evenly between those 25 and older/younger. If you factor in how most Disney live-action films do - with an average 3.18x multiplier, Lion King should wind up with around $600 million - though I wouldn't be surprised if it goes higher as this should play well with families with nothing really challenging it until Dora and the Lost City of Gold in August. The film was no slouch overseas, either, with $269 million ($346 million since opening) and a worldwide total of $531 million. No surprise that China is leading the charts with $97.5 million. It is going to yet again be another $1 billion film for Disney.
2)
SPIDER-MAN: FAR FROM HOME
Speaking about $1 billion films for Disney, Spider-Man: Far from Home is approaching ever-closer to the magic mark. With a $21 million weekend (down 53.7%), Far from Home stands at $319.65 million on the domestic front. It looks like it will be able to top both Spider-Man: Homecoming ($324 million) and Spider-Man 3 ($336 million) in due time. It has earned $651 million overseas, for a global total of $970 million - easily taking the crown for highest-grossing Spider-Man above Spider-Man 3 ($890 million). It is also Sony's second-biggest worldwide film ahead of Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle ($962 million) and behind just Skyfall ($1.108 billion) and it has a very good chance of topping 007 in the long run. On the domestic front, it will probably fall short of Spider-Man 2 ($360 million) but I don't think Disney is going to shed many tears over that considering how well it's doing internationally - and, yes, they are going to have no problem hitting that rumored $1 billion mark, meaning Spider-Man is going to be in the MCU for years to come.
3)
TOY STORY 4
Disney takes the third-place spot at well, with Toy Story 4 dipping just 30.3% (and holding up very well against The Lion King) and adding $14.6 million to its total, which now stands at a healthy $375.5 million - crossing that $375 million mark in the process. It still has $400 million within its sights, though it is going to be coin toss as to whether it will be able to catch Toy Story 3 ($415 million) in the end. It is also doing huge business overseas with $25.8 million for the weekend and a $483.9 million international total, adding up to a $860 million global total - fifth all time for a Pixar film. It will probably catch Finding Nemo ($899 million) but should stall out before hitting $1 billion - right around $950 million or so. Still, for the fourth film in a franchise, I think it's doing just fine and probably makes the prospects of Frozen 2 that much better.
4)
CRAWL
Survival/horror film Crawl took a 50% hit, adding $6 million to its total, which now stands at $23.8 million. That is a typical drop for this kind of film. Playing in just 26% of total international markets, it has taken in $10 million thus far. The $13.5 million film isn't going to have any problem become profitable, even with ad costs factored in and while it may not match The Shallows, it's yet another example of how this genre does pretty good in the summer months. These kind of movies are destined for more cult status than blockbuster status but as long as they continue to make money for studios, I don't see why these creature features won't continue to find a place with audiences over the summer.
5)
YESTERDAY
Rounding out the top five for the second weekend in a row, Yesterday took in $5.1 million (down a scant 24%) and giving the feel-good romance/Beatles alternate universe film a $57.6 million total. That is more than double its $26 million budget and a solid win for Danny Boyle and Richard Curtis. It's also sitting at just under $100 million worldwide ($98.2 million and counting), so it's only a matter of time before it hits that milestone. I would say it is certainly deserving of what it has made - and even more - hopefully it continues to hang around.
Outside the top five: The biggest news for Disney outside The Lion King's massive opening was Avengers: Endgame which, with $2.79 billion worldwide, is now the highest-grossing global film, officially topping Avatar ($2.789 billion). And it's probably not quite done yet - though it's not going to add too much more to that total - a total that's going to be pretty tough to top seeing as it took a decade to topple Avatar's massive numbers.
In milestone news, The Secret Life of Pets 2 added $1.53 million (10th place) just enough to help the film cross the $150 million mark with $151.5 million.
Next week we once again have just one new wide release: Quentin Tarantino's Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, which should bring out adult audiences in force, but probably not nearly enough to topple The Lion King atop the box office.
Comments
