Disney continues to empty our pockets with the release of the live-action (photorealistic?) adaptation of The Lion King. The film grossed a stellar $191.7 million which is well above the original total of $185 million that was initially reported.
However you look at it, the film breaks the July opening weekend record of $169.1 million set by Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows. The film is also the second-largest opening of the year so far & the seventh of all-time. There’s no other way to spin it. Disney knows how to make these things work even if the critical response isn’t totally there. The film is Rotten at 52% but the audience score is 89% & it also scored an “A” CinemaScore. A similar thing happened with the live-action Aladdin which was Rotten at 56% but the audience score was an even better 94%. That film has been in the top ten since Memorial Day weekend & is one of the highest-grossing movies of the summer. Needless to say, some people just want to be entertained & The Lion King is doing that for them & with little family competition coming up, I see some great legs ahead. Internationally, the film added $269 million for a global figure nearing $540 million.
Spider-Man: Far From Home falls to second with $21.2 million, down 53.3%. The film took a hit from The Lion King but Spidey has broken a personal record of its own. Far From Home is now the highest-grossing Spider-Man film at the worldwide box office with a gross of $971 million & is on its way to being another billion-dollar MCU earner. Current domestic total is $319.8 million.
In third, Toy Story 4 holds up well with $15.5 million and only drops 25.8% despite the presence of The Lion King. It’s all Disney money so they’re happy either way. The film has grossed $376.4 million domestically & just shy of $860 million worldwide.
In fourth, we find Crawl with a gross of $6 million for the weekend. The film dipped 49.2% but with a budget of $13.5 million, it’s in good shape. Current domestic total is $23.9 million.
Rounding out the top five is Yesterday with a gross of $5 million. The film has seen solid legs since opening and only dropped 25.2% this weekend as it brings its domestic total to $57.5 million. The film is this year’s sleeper hit of the summer and it’s also director Danny Boyle’s second highest-grossing film of his career after Slumdog Millionaire.
Also, as you saw already on the site, Avengers: Endgame is officially the highest-grossing film of all-time at the worldwide box office. As of this writing, Endgame has grossed $2.79 billion worldwide and Avatar ended its run with $2.78 billion. I’m guessing Disney and Marvel love us 3000 right about now.
Check out the full top ten results below:
| Film | Total | % Change | Gross to Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Onward | $10,601,952 | -72.9% | $60.3 |
| Bloodshot | $9,176,695 | NEW | $9.17 |
| I Still Believe | $9,103,614 | NEW | $9.10 |
| The Invisible Man | $5,890,805 | -61.1% | $64.3 |
| The Hunt | $5,304,455 | NEW | $5.3 |
| Sonic the Hedgehog | $2,522,584 | -67.3% | $145.7 |
| The Way Back | $2,356,115 | -71.2% | $13.3 |
| The Call of the Wild | $2,226,720 | -67.1% | $62 |
| Emma. | $1,295,215 | -73% | $9.9 |
| Bad Boys for Life | $1,102,208 | -63.5% | $204.2 |
