Jon Favreau’s not doing so bad lately, especially where Disney is concerned. He popped in as Happy Hogan in the most expensive Avengers: Endgame scene and directed the (too?) photorealistic The Lion King remake, which was destined to reach great heights at the box-office. However, those heights are almost absurd right out of the gate because, after only 19 days since global release, the film has reaped $1 billion worldwide. Not only that, but Favreau also played Happy for Sony’s Spider-Man: Far From Home, which crossed that same milestone a few days ago.
Back to Disney, though. In addition to MCU titles including Endgame and Captain Marvel alongside Will Smith’s blue genie in Aladdin, The Lion King has become the fourth title from the studio to cross the billion-dollar mark. We’re not even fully through the summer yet, and on Tuesday, the Hollywood Reporter dropped news of the remake passing $999.4 million globally. Further, The Lion King will likely continue to have legs until kids return to school and parents seek refuge in theaters during the hottest weeks of the year, so who knows how high the movie shall roar.
The rest of 2019 should turn up more impressive numbers for Disney with two more highly anticipated titles. Those would be Frozen 2 in November and Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker in December. In other words, Disney might break its own 2016 record for four billion-dollar films in one year, and there’s no sign of slowing down yet. Or an end to those live-action remakes.
(Via Hollywood Reporter & Variety)
