Hakuna matata means no worries at all — not when it comes to The Lion King at least.
Thanks to Beyoncé and a star-studded cast, The Lion King opened to an estimated $185 million in its North American debut for a 10-day worldwide total of $531 million through Sunday (it opened a week early in China, where it has earned $97.5 million to date), according to the Hollywood Reporter. When it comes to making history, the CG remake of the 1994 animated classic, which also stars Beyoncé, Donald Glover, Chiwetel Ejiofor and Seth Rogen, is just getting started.
The demo for the film’s audience was 44 percent Caucasian, 22 percent African-American, 20 percent Hispanic and 14 percent Asian/other, according to PostTrak.
“It’s a priority for us to bring different voices to the big screen,” says Disney distribution chief Cathleen Taff. “That’s what you saw with this amazing cast and the vision that Jon Favreau and [Disney production president] Sean Bailey brought to life. The story resonated across the board.”
The soundtrack for the film, Lion King: The Gift is also a gift in itself. Executive produced by Beyoncé, it has also received as much fanfare as the film, and we have the Queen Bey herself to thank for it.
“This soundtrack is a love letter to Africa, and I wanted to make sure we found the best talent from Africa,” Bey said in a Good Morning America interview. “I wanted to be authentic to what is beautiful about music in Africa.”
It’s only been 3 days, but we can’t wait to see The Lion King continue to ‘roar’ to new heights. Have you seen it yet?