'The Lion King' is on its way to beating a box-office record held by the 'Harry Potter' finale

Travis Clark

July 20, 2019 6:19 PM

Disney's "The Lion King" remake earned $78.5 million on Friday, and could make up to $200 million this weekend despite poor reviews.

the lion king

The movie has a 55% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes, but an A on Cinemascore.
Disney currently holds the top five movies at the global and domestic box offices.
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Disney's "The Lion King" is laughing in the face of poor review s, 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.

Audiences obviously love the movie more than critics. It has an A grade on 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.

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