Disney’s 3D conversion of 17-year-old “The Lion King” roared louder than all its challengers for the second weekend in a row (Sept. 23-25), pawing in another $22.1 million at 2,330 domestic theaters, according to Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, representing a drop of less than 27% from last week’s industry-stunning $30 mil. re-debut.
And this weekend’s 3D percentage was even up a tick from last weekend’s unprecedented share to 93% of all receipts.
The movie, which had already given a jolt of renewed energy to filmmakers like James Cameron and competing studios considering 3D conversions of their own films, took in another $1.9 mil. from 19 international territories, for a global total of $24 mil. this weekend and a cumulative global gross to date of nearly $78 mil. ($61.7 mil. domestically).
“The Lion King” managed all this despite heated competition from the likes of Sony’s highly-touted “Moneyball,” starring Brad Pitt, which opened fairly strong but with just under $21 mil., and Warner’s own 3D family entry this week, “Dolphin Tale,” which grossed slightly over $20 mil.
Disney executives are discussing extending the planned limited three-week run of “The Lion King” past October 6 but the studio will be releasing the movie on Blu-ray 3D Oct. 4.
Cameron said the success of “The Lion King” will give confidence to studios who are already planning releases of converted films such as his own “Titanic” next April, “Star Wars” next February, and “Top Gun.”
— By Scott Hettrick