‘The Lion King’ is taking its throne in China.
Released in the region one week ahead of its July 19th arrival worldwide, the live-action take on the Disney classic is pouncing in a major way.
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Its three-day debut window (Friday-Sunday) saw the Donald Glover and Beyonce flick amass $55 million.
The figure sees ‘The Lion King’ notch the highest grossing opening of all of Disney’s live-action remakes, besting ‘The Jungle Book’ ($46.5 million), ‘Beauty And The Beast’ ($45.2 million ), ‘Aladdin’ ($18.8 million) and ‘Dumbo’ ($11 million).
Its slay out of the gate is not only indicative of ample buzz for the film in the region, but is especially notable given how many huge US franchises tend to struggle in that market; a market which tends to favor its own localised smashes.
And with ‘The Lion King’ projected to deliver Disney’s biggest numbers for a live-action release in the region, the studio is going all out. For, they’ve even set to release a new version of ‘Can You Feel The Love Tonight?’ featuring Beyonce and Chinese superstar Jacky Cheung.