September 18, 2011 by Vinnie Leduc
Naaaaaaaaaaaaa sibenya babagish shibaba! Disney’s popular classic The Lion King, my favorite animated movie, demonstrated its timelessness by roaring back to (its circle of) life via a 3D re-release this weekend, making more money than the other three new releases combined, including Drive‘s third-place finish, Straw Dogs‘ fifth-place flop, and I Don’t Know How She Does It‘s sixth-place settling. Originally released 17 years ago in 1994 and quickly becoming one of the headliners of the Disney Renaissance on its way to the highest gross for a 2D animation film in history, the Oscar-winning and record-breaking Lion King lept from 25th place all-time in gross revenue to 17th place this weekend. The re-release has already made more than twice the amount of the 3D re-release of the first two Toy Story films two years ago, and it became the first re-release to debut at the top of the box office since the special edition of Star Wars: Episode VI: Return of the Jedi in 1997. The Lion King‘s reclamation of its throne pushed last week’s Help-streakbuster Contagion to second place and The Help to fourth place.
Here were the top 5 in the domestic box office last weekend via BOM:
- The Lion King — Weekend Gross: $29.3 million — Total Gross: $29.3 million (re-release), $357.8 million (total) (new)
- Contagion — Weekend Gross: $14.5 million — Total Gross: $44.2 million (#1 last week)
- Drive — Weekend Gross: $11.0 million — Total Gross: $11.0 million (new)
- The Help — Weekend Gross: $6.4 million — Total Gross: $147.4 million (#2 last week)
- Straw Dogs — Weekend Gross: $5.0 million — Total Gross: $5.0 million (new)
