Its $US 1.43 billion gross at the global box office has helped it inch pass Black Panther ($US 1.3 billion) and Avengers: Age of Ultron ($US 1.4 billion) to be the 9th highest-grossing film of all time, worldwide. Over the past couple of weeks, The Lion King (2019) has broken a bunch of records including becoming the highest-grossing animated film of all time (it looks live-action, but it’s still made entirely on computers) zooming past Frozen‘s $US 1.27 billion global haul. It’s also the highest-grossing Disney remake, a record previously held by 2017’s Beauty and the Beast ($US 1.26 billion). And the second highest-grossing film of 2019 beating Captain Marvel‘s $US 1.12 billion, losing to, of course, Avengers: Endgame ($US 2.79 billion).
Five of the top six highest-grossing films of 2019 worldwide are all from Disney. This list also includes the Aladdin remake and Toy Story 4, both grossing slightly over $US 1 billion each. The only non-Disney movie in the top 6 is Spider-Man: Far From Home ($US 1.1 billion) but even that’s tied to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. A bulk of The Lion King‘s money has come from markets outside of North America — $US 940 million, which includes the approximately $US 116 million gross in China and $US 5.7 million (RM 24 million) gross in Malaysia. In North America, the film has made around $US 496 million, making it the second highest-grossing film of 2019 in North America as well. The Lion King is still playing in Malaysian cinemas.
