'Lion King' chases off Brad Pitt for No. 1 spot

LOS ANGELES — Brad Pitt was unable to put the cat out of first place at the weekend box office.

Walt Disney's “The Lion King” reissue was No. 1 for the second-straight weekend with $22.1 million, according to studio estimates Sunday. That puts it just ahead of Pitt's baseball drama “Moneyball,” a Sony Pictures release that opened at No. 2 with $20.6 million.

Debuting closely behind at No. 3 was the Warner Bros. family film “Dolphin Tale” with $20.3 million. “Dolphin Tale” stars Harry Connick Jr., Ashley Judd and Morgan Freeman.

The 3-D reissue of 1994's “The Lion King” has taken in $61.7 million since opening the previous weekend to a much bigger audience than expected. That's on top of nearly $800 million worldwide the movie made in its original run and a 2002 rerelease.

The film has done so well that Disney plans to leave it in theaters longer than the two-week run the studio initially planned ahead of its Blu-ray release Oct. 4, said Dave Hollis, Disney's head of distribution.

The studio has not yet decided how long or how widely the film would play theatrically after the Blu-ray release, Hollis said.

“Consumers I think will be happy to consume it in multiple ways for this kind of franchise, as they have for the last 17 years,” Hollis said.

“The Lion King” held up well despite a rush of four new wide releases this weekend.

“The Lion King,” “Moneyball” and “Dolphin Tale” managed a rare feat for September, all finishing above $20 million for the weekend.