Disney continues its box office domination this summer with their re-make of The Lion King as director Jon Favreau's photorealistic take on Disney's 1994 animated classic pulled in an impressive $191 million in its first weekend making this the first weekend of the last six weekends to top the last year's total-The Lion King going one further and actually surpassing the total gross of this weekend last year all by itself. Not to be stopped, Disney also celebrated the fact Avengers: Endgame finally surpassed Avatar to become the highest grossing worldwide release of all-time. Avatar held the worldwide record gross for ten years, but with Endgame's global total passing $2.79 billion it now holds the title-that is, until Disney likely re-releases Avatar once more prior to the debut of James Cameron's numerous Pandora-set sequels. This weekend was largely about The Lion King though, as the film delivered a record opening weekend for the month of July, besting the previous record holder, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2 with $169 million, as well as becoming the second largest opening of the year thus far and the seventh largest opening of all-time. And though the majority of critics were lukewarm on the film (our reviewers fell in the enjoyable if not completely satisfying range) it seemed Favreau and company's effort was enough to please the masses as opening day audiences gave the film an "A" CinemaScore. Looking at Aladdin's current run and given that film is still ranking in the weekend top ten, The Lion King could potentially reach over $687 million domestic should it match Aladdin's current multiplier. Should it decide to hue closer to 2017's Beauty and the Beast though, a finish closer to $535 million is likely. That's something of a wide range, but either way this is good news for the $260 million production as, internationally, the film added $269 million this weekend for an international total of $346 million and a global cume that now stands at almost $600 million after only a weekend in wide release (it opened in China last week where it already grossed $97.5 million). Next weekend, we'll see if the latest from Quentin Tarantino, Once Upon a Time in...Hollywood, starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt can keep this winning streak alive. As always, be sure to follow the official TAVERN TALK by Initial Reaction YouTube channel as well as on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter where you can find a new review (or reviews) each week!
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