‘The Lion King’ Is Now The Highest-Grossing Animated Movie Of All Time!
By Frozen has held the record for the highest grossing animated film for nearly six years, but now it’s going to have to let it go.
The Lion King has surpassed the long-ruling princesses of Arendelle, hitting a global box office of $1.334 billion as of Aug. 11 after opening in Japan — which puts it above Frozen’s $1.276 billion, according to BoxOfficeMojo.
This year’s “reimagining” of the beloved 1994 classic had a pretty lukewarm reception from critics, but the combination of 90s nostalgia and present-day Beyoncé seems to have worked better than distracting a mob of hyenas with an impromptu hula.
You could argue that its position atop the animated pile is a little tenuous given that it’s part of Disney’s slate of “live-action” remakes, but come on: “Photorealistic CGI” is still animation. Those are not real lions.
Also not in doubt: as well as becoming the 12th-highest grossing release ever, The 2019 Definitely Not Live-Action Lion King has also overtaken 2017’s Beauty and the Beast as the most successful of Disney’s remakes.
Safe to say the House of Mouse is not going to be slowing down on the computer-generated magic any time soon — no matter what you want to call it, it’s working.
