Disney’s The Lion King remake achieves fifth-highest opening weekend ever, earning $20.5m

July 23, 2019 8:32

Disney’s remake of The Lion King made its box office debut over the weekend, drawing in $20.5m across 930 screens, the fifth-highest opening weekend in Australian box office history. The film overtook previous fifth place holder Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, which opened in 2011 to $18.3m in Australia, and sits just behind 2017’s Star Wars: The Last Jedi which brought in $20.9m. At the top is Avengers: Endgame which debuted to $34m two months ago.

The CGI version of the Disney classic stars Donald Glover as Simba and Beyonce as Nala, and was directed by Jon Favreau – who previously directed Disney’s live-action remake of The Jungle Book in 2016.

The box office figures will prove a relief for Disney after unfavourable reviews began to emerge out of the US ahead of the Australian premiere date, although the film may have benefitted from the tail-end of the school holiday period.

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Zoe Wilkinson

Zoe Wilkinson was a reporter at Mumbrella and the producer of the Mumbrellacast from March 2019 to May 2021.

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