The Lion King Becomes Disney’s Fourth Film To Get A Billion Worldwide, Surpasses Original’s Box Office Take

The King has returned. Variety brings word that Disney’s CGI remake of The Lion King has just crossed the $1 billion milestone, making it the fourth Disney film to do so this year. That puts it in the very elite company of Aladdin, Captain Marvel and the highest grossing film of all time, Avengers: Endgame. The remake is the fifth-largest worldwide release of the year, having earned $361 million domestically and $638 million internationally. It had strong numbers in China ($115 million), the UK ($48 million) and Brazil ($44 million).

It also means that the new Lion King has surpassed the old one, as the 1994 original only earned $968.5 million during its two runs (which includes a 2011 3D re-release). Of course that doesn’t take inflation into account, but that’s a debate for another day.

The bigger news, perhaps, is just how well Disney is doing overall. As mentioned, four of their films surpassed a billion dollars this year and the House of Mouse has almost 38% of the domestic market share. That’s expect to be over 40% once Fox is folded into the company after Disney purchased it earlier this year. This comes after Disney set an all-time record for global ticket sales for a single studio. They earned $7.67 billion worldwide, beating their own 2016 record of $7.61 billion. They set that record with four films passing a billion as well.

Disney isn’t done yet, either. Toy Story 4 still has a shot of crossing a billion (it currently sits at $920.5 million) and the company has Frozen 2, Maleficent: Mistress of Evil and Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker still due out this year.