Going into the summer it was basically a fact that Disney’s remake of THE LION KING would dominate the season, and indeed the movie has lived up to its title and wasted no time become the king of the summer box office. Not only has it become the top domestic earner of the summer after less than two weeks in release (with $361 million so far), but now it’s stampeded past a major milestone and has crossed the $1 billion mark in that short amount of time – becoming the fourth Disney movie this year to do so.
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While the official numbers are not in yet, the movie’s global frame sits at $999 million accounting for numbers from Monday, but once the numbers come in for Tuesday it will show the movie blasting past the big mark. THE LION KING joins the ranks of three other Disney movies that have done the same this year – CAPTAIN MARVEL ($1.128 billion), AVENGERS: ENDGAME ($2.793 billion) and ALADDIN ($1.011 billion) – proving that Disney is truly the unstoppable force at the box office.
News of Disney’s continued dominance comes on the heels of a more staggering (perhaps scary) piece of info revealing that the House of Mouse has already surpassed its own record by selling $7.67 billion in tickets around the world – besting their previous record of $7.16 billion in 2016. We have only just passed the middle of the year, and still on the horizon are big movies like MALEFICENT: MISTRESS OF EVIL, FROZEN 2 and STAR WARS: THE RISE OF SKYWALKER. The latter two are expected to cross the $1 billion mark, and between all three and KING’s continued run, the studio could hit $10 billion by year’s end.
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It was always expected that LION KING would easily clear $1 billion, but when put into context with the other billion-dollar movies Disney has put out this year it puts just how much power they have in the industry into perspective. While other movies are tanking this summer, Disney is unleashing superhero movies and remakes that are easily owning the box office. Audiences are flocking to these movies for one reason or another, and bringing the families with them, giving Disney their money and leaving less for other movies. The gravity of Disney's presence is a larger discussion that we can get into here, but again, keep this in mind: Disney has had their biggest year ever, and it's not even the end of July.
THE LION KING is in theaters now.