The Lion King Becomes Disney's Fourth Movie to Cross $1 Billion in 2019

It didn't take very long for Disney's remake of The Lion King to become one of the [...]

By Charlie Ridgely

It didn't take very long for Disney's remake of The Lion King to become one of the highest-grossing movies of the entire year. Just over two weeks after its international release, Jon Favreau's film has already crossed $1 billion at the worldwide box office, making it Disney's fourth movie to do so in 2019.

Yes, Disney has four of the five highest-grossing movies of 2019 so far, with Captain Marvel, Avengers: Endgame, and Aladdin all crossing the $1 billion mark already. The Lion King got there quicker than all of them, save for Endgame, and it's likely it won't be Disney's last film to join the club this year. Toy Story 4 is knocking on the door of $1 billion and could very well pass it by the end of its run. It's also worth remembering that Disney still has Frozen 2 and Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker hitting theaters later this year. Both are near locks to make $1 billion.

The Lion King's total comes from a very solid mix of domestic and international hauls, earning $360.9 million in North America and $638 million in the rest of the markets around the world, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Only one film that wasn't made by Disney has passed the $1 billion threshold this year, but it's pretty closely tied to Disney's Marvel Studios. Spider-Man: Far From Home was released by Sony earlier this month, but it's included in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, continuing the story of Avengers: Endgame. Disney's success on the latter certainly lent itself to Spider-Man's box office total. That said, Spidey has always been a fairly bankable hero at the box office.

Marvel and Star Wars have long been heavy hitters for Walt Disney but the live-action Disney standalone studio has only made six $1 billion films to-date. The Lion King and Aladdin join a group that includes Beauty and the Beast, Alice and Wonderland, and two of the five Pirates of the Caribbean movies.

Did you expect The Lion King to make $1 billion this fast? What other movies in 2019 will pass the milestone? Let us know your thoughts and predictions in the comments!

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