Disney's "
The Lion King" is laughing in the face of poor reviews, and is on its way to a huge weekend at the
box office.
The movie, a remake of the 1994 animated classic, earned $78.5 million on Friday and could make up to $200 million over its opening weekend in the US. It earned $23 million in Thursday previews, the most of any Disney remake so far.
"The Lion King" is not only on its way to the second-biggest domestic opening of the year so far, behind only "Avengers: Endgame," but it's also expected to have the biggest July opening weekend ever (before adjusting for inflation). The previous record-holder, "
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2," earned $169 million in 2011.
The movie has already made $270.5 million globally as of Friday, according to Boxoffice.com.
Cinemascore, which polls audiences on a movie's opening night, while only having a 55% critic score on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes.
Disney has been immune to critical poundings this year, though. "Aladdin," another remake of an animated classic, has made $967 million worldwide, according to Box Office Mojo, and has a 56% on Rotten Tomatoes.
Disney currently holds the top five 2019 releases at both the domestic and global box offices (that includes "Spider-Man: Far From Home," which was distributed by Sony but coproduced by Disney's Marvel Studios). "The Lion King" will surely make it six.