It’s a busy weekend for Disney and Marvel with all time this and that records.
“The Lion King” reboot comes in at number 8 on the all time list of opening weekends. It also smashed the July record for openings, overtaking “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Pts.” which had the July record with $169 million.
“The Lion King” comes in at around $185 million, much lower than hoped by Disney, but a whopping amount of money for four days. They didn’t have great reviews, but they did have the widest ever opening. Also, the weather helped– the theaters had to be filled with families looking for some air conditioning.
The $185 million is $7 million lower than the latest estimates posted by all the trade magazines prognosticators. Of course, they erase all the earlier predictions and tout this number instead.
Is it great filmmaking? No. None of this stuff is. Filmmaking doesn’t mean anything in this world. Well, maybe in the extended Pixar world. This is about business. It’s the money, stupid. This “Lion King” will never resonate in the culture like the original, animated film or the excitement of the Broadway show.
It is what it is, as they say, which means more than it ever did.
Anyway, Beyonce probably got the most out of all this. She has the number 1 album.
