- Lion King has beaten Frozen as the highest grossing animated movie of all time worldwide.
- But, in India, Lion King is yet to beat The Jungle Book's total earnings.
- Lion King's success worldwide is largely driven by the overseas market where its earnings are double of what it pulled in domestically.
The remake of the Disney's 1992 hit,
Lion King, is killing it at the box office. The movie grossed over $1.3 billion worldwide to beat
Frozen as the
highest earning animated movie of all time according to
CinemaBlend.
But, Frozen isn't the move to beat for Indian audiences.
The Jungle Book — also directed by Jon Favreau — earned ₹268 crore in India while
Lion King stands at nearly half of that, ₹145 crore, as of Saturday. Nonetheless, analysts at
Box Office India predict that the movie is likely to join the ₹150 crore club once the final weekend numbers are in.
Lion King also has a few weeks in its pocket before its pulled from the screen giving it some time to catch up to
The Jungle Book's record.
Disney's dominance
Regardless of which movie leads the charts, it's a win for Disney. The top three animated movies globally are all from the legacy movie studio —
Lion King followed by
Frozen and the
Incredibles 2.
Disney, which also owns Fox and Lucasfilm, is essentially in control of all of the biggest film franchises. And, that's the way it's going to stay something
breaks up the massive conglomerate.
And even with
The Jungle Book having done better in India, the country is still an important market for
Lion King. The movie has made twice as much from its worldwide markets than it has domestically — $437.1 million at home versus $861.5 million from overseas.
See also:A family feud over a $400 million trust fund, a massive fortune that left one heiress with an inferiority complex, and a sprawling media empire: Meet the Disney familyHans Zimmer was hesitant to revisit 'The Lion King' score until playing the music at Coachella gave him a spark of inspirationWhy people are calling 'The Jungle Book' the most visually stunning movie of the year