(Bloomberg) -- “The Lion King” and director Quentin Tarantino's film tribute to 1960s Hollywood delivered a needed boost to the box office, giving North American theaters another strong weekend after months of slow sales.
- Walt Disney Co.'s “Lion King” delivered $76.6 million in domestic ticket sales in its second weekend, researcher Comscore Inc. said Monday. Analysts were forecasting $90 million to $94 million. “Once Upon a Time ... in Hollywood,” the Tarantino-Sony Pictures film about '60s-era movie-making, made its debut with $41.1 million, at the high end of projections. The film, Tarantino's ninth, had the biggest opening weekend of his career.
Key Insights
- Both films won over moviegoing fans, according to ratings at Rotten Tomatoes. Audiences gave an 83% favorable score to “Once Upon a Time,” which features Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt and Margot Robbie in the starring roles. “Lion King” overcame tough critics' reviews and has an 89% positive ranking among audiences at the website.
- While it's an undeniable hit, “The Lion King” dropped much more than expected, over 60%, one of the largest such drops among Disney's live-action remakes, according to Box Office Mojo.
- Nonetheless, Disney has outdone itself, surpassing the all-time global box-office record with an estimated $7.67 billion to date. That is before releasing two of its most anticipated films, the finale to “Star Wars” trilogy and a sequel to “Frozen” later this year.
- Hollywood's summer 2019 strategy -- releasing a new superhero sequel every two weeks or so -- has delivered uneven results for theaters so far. But Bloomberg Intelligence forecasts that the season's sales may edge past last year's $4.4 billion. There's also still a chance annual box-office sales can reach a record $12 billion, they say.
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--With assistance from Anousha Sakoui.
To contact the reporter on this story: Rob Golum in Los Angeles at rgolum@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Nick Turner at nturner7@bloomberg.net, Rob Golum
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