The Lion King Opens With a Roar

Disney film sets a couple of records

By Newser Editors and Wire Services

Posted Jul 21, 2019 12:15 PM CDT

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The Lion King Opens With a Roar — This image released by Disney shows, from left, young Simba, voiced by JD McCrary, young Nala, voiced by Shahadi Wright Joseph, and Zazu, voiced by John Oliver, in a scene from "The Lion King." (Disney via AP)

The Walt Disney Co. is ruling the box office again with the record-breaking debut of The Lion King this weekend. The studio said Sunday that the photorealistic remake devoured an estimated $185 million in ticket sales from 4,725 North American locations, the AP reports. It's a record for the month of July and PG-rated films, and the ninth-highest opening of all time. Globally, the film has already grossed $531 million. No other studio even dared to go up against The Lion King with a major release.

In its third weekend, Spider-Man: Far From Home fell to second place with $21 million. Toy Story 4 took third with $14.6 million. And with an additional $1.5 million from the weekend, Avengers: Endgame has officially surpassed Avatar as the biggest film of all time with $2.79 billion.

(Read more box office stories.)