September 26, 2011 by Vinnie Leduc
Hakuna matata… what a wonderful phrase. And what wonderful days these past couple of weekends have been for The Lion King 3D re-release, which maintained its spot at the top of the box office despite a one-two punch from half of the four new challengers. Decreasing only 27% since last week, Simba & Co. not only extended the film’s total gross to 12th all-time in the domestic office (it was 25th all-time prior to the 3D re-release), but the Oscar-winning and record-breaking animated favorite also extended its limited engagement in theaters beyond Disney’s original plan of just two weeks. It’ll be interesting to see how the current box office king holds up next week as it coincides with The Lion King release on Blu-Ray.
The Lion King got a run for its money from true stories Moneyball and Dolphin Tale, which battled it out closely for the box office crown but ultimately against each other for second place. Moneyball raked in just enough green to grab the runner-up slot and just barely missed out on the biggest opening ever for a baseball movie. Rounding out the top 5 was the other half of the weekend’s newcomers, both action flicks. Despite deceptive marketing for a triple threat action combo, not-so-true story Killer Elite lost to Abduction.
Here were the top 5 in the domestic box office last weekend, the highest-grossing September weekend ever, via BOM:
- The Lion King — Weekend Gross: $21.9 million — Total Gross: $61.5 million (re-release), $390 million (total) (#1 last week)
- Moneyball — Weekend Gross: $19.5 million — Total Gross: $19.5 million (new)
- Dolphin Tale — Weekend Gross: $19.2 million — Total Gross: $19.2 million (new)
- Abduction — Weekend Gross: $10.9 million — Total Gross: $10.9 million (new)
- Killer Elite — Weekend Gross: $9.4 million — Total Gross: $9.4 million (new)
