The Lion King

Friday, July 19, 2019 Third weekend of July 2019

On the chart The Lion King (opening): $191.8M, July record

Expected 'I'll pick a midpoint of about $180 million for the weekend, which will comfortably be a July record' Actual: $191.8M, the record, as called

In the note So, based on something I heard at the sparsely attended 'Putting away Childish Things' seminar at Comic Con, here's my best take on the weekend box-office. #1 The Lion King re-issue - Looks great so far today, and just like a couple of the recent Star Wars films, it looks like Disney Marketing has somehow convinced people (again) to go see a film that they’ve pretty much seen already.

Friday, July 26, 2019 Fourth weekend of July 2019

On the chart The Lion King (wk 2): $76.6M, -60%

Expected 'A drop close to 60% for the weekend for a gross in the mid high 70's' Actual: $76.6M, -60%

In the note So, with the accuracy normally associated the jet bridge drivers at LAX, here’s my best take on the weekend box-office. #1 The Lion King - Looks okay today, but just okay.

Friday, August 2, 2019 First weekend of August 2019

On the chart The Lion King (wk 3): $38.5M, -50%

Friday, August 9, 2019 Second weekend of August 2019

On the chart The Lion King (wk 4): $20.2M, -48%

Expected 'About -50%, for a weekend in the high teens' Actual: $20.2M, -48%

In the note However, this genre can really get going at night and if it does I wouldn’t rule out a #1 finish. #3 The Lion King - The holdovers on this film have been pretty underwhelming and today is in line with the previous weeks.

Friday, August 23, 2019 Fourth weekend of August 2019

In the note There wasn’t much new (or good) opening this week last year, so with a well placed sequel we’ve got a decent shot at being about even in the year to year comp derby. So, with the accuracy and quality normally associated with a CFL groundskeeping crew, here’s my best take on the weekend box-office. #1 Angel has Fallen - Yes, there’s still a decent amount of fan-ship for this series, especially in the fly over states. Right now it looks a little better than last night’s preview gross would predict, figure it’s in the very high teens with a decent shot at a head-shavingly good 20/low 20's. #2 Good Boys - Looks pretty normal right now, but since the box office menu is a little short on comedy right now, even though the exits were good not great this might show some legs this weekend. But for now let’s figure a standard 50% drop and a weekend just above 10. #3 - #6 There’s a cluster of films that all look like they’re between 6 and 7 for the weekend, I'm not sure what order they're going to end up in, but here they are in alphabetical order: - Hobbs & Shaw - Figure down about 45% - Overcomer - It’s hard to say where these religious movies are gonna go, since sometimes it’s all presales and they don’t grow. - Ready or Not - Right now it looks consistent with the weekdays, since the exits were nothing special I’m not sure they accomplished anything with the weekday opening. - The Lion King - Actually might be the best of the bunch, and has the best chance of doing a little more than 7. The Peanut Butter Falcon - Expanded to 1000 runs today, although you would think the 47 runs they were in last week would be enough to service the moviegoers who don't hate Shia LeBeouf.

Friday, August 30, 2019 Labor Day weekend 2019

On the chart The Lion King (wk 7): $6.9M, -14%

Friday, July 14, 2023 Second weekend of July 2023

In the note With OppenBarbie storming in next week, we’ll probably absolutely annihilate 2022 (Nope) next weekend and unless something goes sideways next week, we should even beat 2019 (The Lion King). We’re still about 14% ahead of 2022’s cume gross, so with the more normal roster of Summer films coming in after OppenBarbie, we’ll keep building on that lead. As you’ll read below, Sound of Freedom is actually up today from last Friday, so we’ve now got a bonafide phenomenon here.

Friday, July 21, 2023 Barbenheimer weekend 2023

In the note And finally, $182.6 million and $191.7 million, which are the opening weekends for Incredibles 2 and The Lion King respectively. So depending on if you think Incredibles 2 is the biggest family film of all time, or Lion King is a family film, or Barbie is a family film; there could be a record here.

Friday, July 19, 2024 Third weekend of July 2024

In the note So if you take the monsters that tend to live on this weekend out of the picture, Lion King in 2019 for example, it’s closer to a normal July weekend gross wise.

Friday, December 20, 2024 Third weekend of December 2024

In the note But there’s also a factor on Mufasa that’s just kind of ‘unlucky’, and I feel it’s one of the reasons behind Sonic separating today. Of all the Disney Animated IP’s The Lion King is Platinum level and there’s a lot of love for it, so doing an origin story seems like a pretty good angle to take.

Where it turns up