'Lion King 3D' Reigns at Box Office With $23.9M
Lion King takes No.1 at the Box Office
Disney’s “The Lion King 3-D” finished at the top of the box office in its opening weekend grossing $29.3 million.
This marks the second such occurrence the film has had a successful opening. “The Lion King” which was originally released on June 15, 1994 was the highest-grossing film that weekend bringing in $40 million.
This isn’t the first time the film has been re-released to the public. On January 1, 2002, “The Lion King” was released for IMAX and other large screen theatres and ran for limited time.
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One of the reasons why the re-release garnered such a large audience may be a result of the “circle of life.” Many children who were 10 years old when the film was released are now 27 years old and want to share the film with children of their own.
Paul Dergarabedian, box-office analyst for Hollywood.com, suggested the film’s family-friendly theme as a reason behind this past weekend’s success.
"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."
Disney officials have stated that the film is only scheduled to run for a limited time, and that it will return to the vault after two weeks.
Many are wondering if “The Lion King” will be released again and continue its place in the circle of life. Disney officials have yet to rule it out.
