UPDATE: According to the official tracking from Variety, Disney’s The Lion King is on course for a domestic opening weekend of $150 million. That’s lower than the early projections, but the figure is expected to rise over the coming weeks as we count down to its July 19th opening. Original story follows…
After scoring several big successes in the past few years, The Walt Disney Company has went all in on its animated remakes in 2019, delivering not one but three new versions of beloved classics.
Tim Burton’s Dumbo failed to soar back in March with an underwhelming box office run that totalled out at just $348.1 million, while Aladdin fared better this weekend but doesn’t look like it’s going to reach the highs of the likes of The Jungle Book and Beauty and the Beast.
Next up from the Mouse House is Jungle Book director Jon Favreau’s remake of The Lion King, and it looks like it’s going to be a case of third time’s a charm with early box office tracking suggesting that Simba and company are going to enjoy a huge domestic opening of between $180 million and $230 million.
SEE ALSO: Ranking Disney’s Live-Action Remakes from Worst to Best
This probably isn’t too surprising, considering that The Lion King is one of Disney’s most loved movies, while its trailer back in November generated an enormous 225 million views in its first 24 hours – the most for any Disney film.
Directed by Jon Favreau (The Jungle Book), The Lion King features a voice cast that includes Donald Glover (Solo: A Star Wars Story) as Simba, Beyonce (Dreamgirls) as Nala, Billy Eichner (Billy on the Street) as Timon, Seth Rogen (Sausage Party) as Pumbaa, John Oliver (Last Week Tonight) as Zazu, Chiwetel Ejiofor (Doctor Strange) as Scar, James Earl Jones (The Lion King) as Mufasa, Alfre Woodard (Luke Cage) as Sarabi, John Kani (Black Panther) as Rafiki, JD McCrary (Vital Signs) as Young Simba, Shahadi Wright Joseph (Hairspray Live) as Young Nala, Eric André (Man Seeking Woman) as Azizi, Florence Kasumba (Black Panther) as Shenzi, Keegan-Michael Key (The Predator) as Kamari and Amy Sedaris (BoJack Horseman) as a new character. It is set for release on July 19th.
