The Lion King 3D pounces on its box-office competition
Nostalgia wins again. Disney's The Lion King 3D, a technologically enhanced re-release of the 1994 animated classic, tore up the competition at the box office this weekend, earning an estimated $29.3 million -- more than the other three newcomers combined.
In The Lion King's original theatrical run, it roared up a stunning $312.9 million total, becoming the highest-grossing animated film in box office history at that time. The film earned another $15.7 million during a 2002 IMAX re-release, and now another $29.3 million during the first weekend of its two-week run. All told, Simba and company have grossed $357.8 million in theaters domestically over the last two decades.
And then there's the home market, where Disney is hoping buyers will seek out The Lion King on Blu-ray 3D when it debuts on Oct. 4. According to The-Numbers, The Lion King has amassed $1.5 billion in home market revenue from video sales and rentals, and after the profitable publicity of this weekend, that number should be moving up shortly.
The Mouse House converted The Lion King into 3-D for a very low cost (a rep for the studio said "the low single digits"), so even if the film completely bombs on DVD -- which it won't -- it's already proving to be a big success.
An impressive 92% of The Lion King 3D's gross came from 3-D screens, and it earned a terrific $12,575 per theater average by playing to a very wide range of moviegoers. People under the age of 25 made up 59% of the audience, as families (who made up 74% of the audience) took their kids to see the film. Still, many couples and young people without children saw the film simply for nostalgic reasons.
(Via EW)
In The Lion King's original theatrical run, it roared up a stunning $312.9 million total, becoming the highest-grossing animated film in box office history at that time. The film earned another $15.7 million during a 2002 IMAX re-release, and now another $29.3 million during the first weekend of its two-week run. All told, Simba and company have grossed $357.8 million in theaters domestically over the last two decades.And then there's the home market, where Disney is hoping buyers will seek out The Lion King on Blu-ray 3D when it debuts on Oct. 4. According to The-Numbers, The Lion King has amassed $1.5 billion in home market revenue from video sales and rentals, and after the profitable publicity of this weekend, that number should be moving up shortly.
The Mouse House converted The Lion King into 3-D for a very low cost (a rep for the studio said "the low single digits"), so even if the film completely bombs on DVD -- which it won't -- it's already proving to be a big success.
An impressive 92% of The Lion King 3D's gross came from 3-D screens, and it earned a terrific $12,575 per theater average by playing to a very wide range of moviegoers. People under the age of 25 made up 59% of the audience, as families (who made up 74% of the audience) took their kids to see the film. Still, many couples and young people without children saw the film simply for nostalgic reasons.
(Via EW)
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