3-D 'Lion King' roars to top of box office
LOS ANGELES — It's 1994 all over again, with a re-release of “The Lion King” opening at the top of the box office.
A 3-D version of the wildly popular Disney animated musical earned a surprising $29.3 million in its first weekend in theaters, according to Sunday estimates. The original film made more than $40 million when it opened nationwide 17 years ago.
This huge number stunned many people, including the folks at Disney, who figured “The Lion King” would make somewhere between $10 million and $12 million, said Dave Hollis, the studio's executive vice president of distribution.
He said the movie remains relevant and as entertaining as it was when it first came out.
“But taking a page from the movie, there is a `circle of life' thing happening,” he said, referring to one of the film's themes. “You have children of the `90s who are now parents of the 2010s and they themselves are taking their kids to share what was, for them, a great experience two decades ago.”
It also helps that there aren't many options for families at the multiplex right now, said Paul Dergarabedian, box-office analyst for Hollywood.com.
“The post-summer period brings a preponderance of R-rated films and more challenging, esoteric, Oscar-caliber fare,” he said. “For kids this is like a dream come true and for parents to be able to revisit `The Lion King' — especially in 3-D, even though 3-D has taken a bad rap over the past year — just tells you the power that this movie has, how strong it resonates with people.”
Hollis said that while the film was also available in 2-D, 92 percent of the opening weekend's business came from 3-D showings.
The story of a wrongly exiled lion prince (voiced by Jonathan Taylor Thomas as a cub and Matthew Broderick as an adult) who must return home to claim his throne, “The Lion King” was the second-highest-grossing film of 1994, behind “Forrest Gump.”
It ranks fourth on the all-time animated list with over $784 million. It earned Academy Awards for Hans Zimmer's original score and for original song for Elton John and Tim Rice's “Can You Feel the Love Tonight.”
Last week's No. 1 movie, Steven Soderbergh's “Contagion,” dropped a spot in its second weekend. The Warner Bros. viral thriller made about $14.5 million for a total of $44.2 million.
Among the other new releases, the critical darling “Drive” came in at No. 3 with just over $11 million. Ryan Gosling stars as a stoic wheelman in the retro action picture from FilmDistrict.
“Straw Dogs,” a remake of the 1971 Sam Peckinpah thriller from Sony Screen Gems, opened in fifth place with only $5 million. It stars James Marsden and Kate Bosworth as a married couple under siege in the rural South.
“I Don't Know How She Does It,” based on the best-seller of the same name, came in at No. 6 with just $4.5 million.