It’s just mind-boggling to see the success of the 3D re-release of The Lion King, not because it’s a bad film (in fact it is one of my favorite all-time animated features), but for a 17-year-old film to take the #1 spot at the box-office is something I can’t say I would’ve expected. Kudos to Disney for the timing and I bet they’re kicking themselves for never going forward with the Beauty and the Beast 3D re-release that was previously planned.
The Lion King took home $8.8 million on Friday and is looking at a weekend topping $25 million. This actually more than doubles 2009’s Toy Story / Toy Story 2 3D double feature, which brought in $12.4 million during its opening weekend and only went on to take home $30.7 million over its five week run. The Lion King is currently planned for only two weeks but I think we all know we’ll see a commercial boasting a “one week extension”, especially after this performance.
The Toy Story re-release was in 1,745 theaters compared to The Lion King‘s 2,330, but The Lion King is looking at a potential per theater average of $10,729, which is $3,570 more than Toy Story‘s. Impressive.
In second on Friday is the Warner Bros. holdover Contagion, which should be looking at $13 million for the weekend where it will finish ahead of FilmDistrict’s critically lauded Drive, which brought in $4 million, and should translate to approximately $10.5 million for the weekend.
From there things look increasingly bleak with Screen Gems’ Straw Dogs remake taking in only $1.98 million and the Weinstein’s I Don’t Know How She Does It managing a meager $1.5 million.
Looking at the overall Friday top ten I see a lot of adult features and only one family friendly feature so I guess it really should be no surprise The Lion King took the top spot. What I wonder is whether or not Disney could have garnered as much attention if the re-release wasn’t in 3D. There seems to always need to be a gimmick when it comes to these things, but with so many people down on 3D wouldn’t it stand to believe people would show up to see the re-release no matter what or do people need that little gimmick to get them into theaters?
I have included the Friday top ten below and will be back on Sunday morning with a complete wrap-up.
- The Lion King (in 3D) – $8.8 million
- Contagion – $4.6 million
- Drive – $4 million
- Straw Dogs – $1.98 million
- The Help – $1.93 million
- I Don’t Know How She Does It – $1.5 million
- Warrior – $897,000
- The Debt – $865,000
- Rise of the Planet of the Apes – $750,000
- Colombiana – $725,000
