Sadly folks, it’s time to let it go as Frozen has had its number one spot snatched away by the 2019 The Lion King remake.
At the time of writing, The Lion King has a worldwide gross of US $1,343.8 billion, which puts it comfortably above Frozen’s US $1,276.5 billion.
This impressive feat puts the Disney remake in as the 11th highest grossing film of all time and the 2nd highest grossing this year, still a full billion and change behind Avengers: Endgame.
The news of The Lion King’s success further solidifies Disney’s dominance as the best-performing picture house this year, having raked in almost US $8 billion from its films already this year.
Despite mixed reviews of The Lion King, a 52% and 55% on Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic for example, the film has done exceptionally well. For the most part, critics thought the production method of the film meant that a lot of the emotional scenes fell flat. The lions’ faces didn’t quite have the same amount of passion and roar as the 1994 original.
Example of the negative reception to the facial expressions
Saw #lionking at the cinema today, courtesy @ImagineCinemas1. I love the realism! But I miss the promise of fluidity, especially in character expressions and actions upheld by high budget animations remake in its class. I am taking a cue from #PeterRabbit Great Job altogether!!! https://t.co/bQj2HxxVXv
— Tosin Odubela (@tosinloluwa) August 3, 2019
The film was directed and produced by Jon Favreau, the same man behind The Jungle Book live-action remake a few years back. The 2019 reimagining of The Lion King was notable for many reasons, including its dizzyingly high-tech production means (the crew literally put on VR headsets to film in the animated world) and the stellar cast.
Getting both Donald Glover and Beyoncé to star and provide the music to your film is quite a draw and its clearly paid off.
The Lion King comes as Disney enters a new trend of re-imagining its classics and live-action-ifying them. The Jungle Book, Beauty and the Beast, Mulan, Aladdin, and The Lion King are all films remade in glorious HD.
As it stands, the next like-action film from Disney is set to be Lady and the Tramp, hoped to launch this year in the winter.
