Disney's The Lion King remake is now the highest-grossing animated film of all time.
The reboot, directed by Jon Favreau, isn't your traditional animated movie, nor is it considered to be live-action by many people. Even Favreau has cast doubt on the "animated" label.
“It depends what standard you’re using. Because there’s no real animals, and there’s no real cameras, and there’s not even any performance that’s being captured that’s underlying data that’s real," he told Slashfilm earlier this year. "Everything is coming through the hands of artists. But to say it’s animated, I think, is misleading as far as what the expectations might be.”
In any case, the film is the top-grossing Disney remake ever.
The past weekend saw The Lion King surpass the worldwide hauls of both The Incredibles 2 and Frozen. The latter was previously the highest-grossing animated movie in the history of animated movies on a worldwide scale. But the No.1 spot is now occupied by the remake of the 1994 classic.
via theatlantic.com
Per Cinemablend.com, The Lion King had grossed $1,334,603,826 as of Sunday while Frozen's stands at $1,276,480,335. That's quite astonishing, especially when you consider that the remake isn't even done yet.
Despite the less-than-positive reviews from plenty of viewers, the movie continues to do well.
Frozen is now the second all-time highest-grossing film, while Incredibles 2 is at $1.242 billion in third place. Minions, Toy Story 3, Despicable Me 3, Finding Dory and Zootopia are next.
While the latest Disney hit is on top of the world right now, it isn't the top animation in the US and Canada. That berth belongs to Incredibles 2 at $608.5 million while Finding Dory is at $486.2 million. The Lion King was at $473.1 million on the weekend but it's very likely to pass Finding Dory by the end of the week.
The movie has seen way more success overseas, with a remarkable $861.5 million coming from international viewing. China is responsible for $118 million, Brazil and France have seen $50 million spent on the film. It's also pulled $60 million from the UK.
The Lion King is yet to pass Frozen where strictly overseas business is concerned, with the older movie grossing $875.5 million thanks to a $249 million haul from Japan. Rather interestingly, Favreau's film is set for release in Japan this month so there's even more potential on the horizon.