'The Lion King' remake is being trashed by critics, but all signs indicate it will be a smash hit for Disney at the box office

Fandango announced last month that the movie was outpacing "Aladdin" and "Beauty and the Beast" in presales, and was projected to be the second-biggest preseller of the year so far, behind "Avengers: Endgame."
The movie already earned $13 million over its opening day in China on Friday.
Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories .

Disney's upcoming remake of "The Lion King" is not feeling the love from critics, but that won't stop it from driving audiences to the theater.

The movie, a "live-action" retelling of the 1994 animated classic from "Iron Man" and "The Jungle Book" director Jon Favreau, has a 59% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes.

Indiewire called it "a well-rendered but creatively bankrupt self-portrait of a movie studio eating its own tail." AV Club called it "joyless, artless, and maybe soulless."

Business Insider's own Jason Guerrasio wrote that the movie is a "game-changing technological feat," but that's also it's biggest flaw, and comes at the expense of the story.

But "The Lion King" is still expected to be a box-office hit when it opens next weekend in the US.

"Aladdin," another recent Disney remake, has made over $900 million worldwide despite its 57% Rotten Tomatoes critic score. It earned $117 million domestically in its four-day Memorial Day opening weekend.

"The Lion King" is already outpacing "Aladdin" in ticket sales in the US, as well as 2017's "Beauty and the Beast." Movie-ticket service Fandango announced last month that "The Lion King" had the biggest first-day presales of any traditional Disney movie, not counting Marvel or "Star Wars." Fandango said "The Lion King" was pacing to be the year's second-biggest preseller so far, following "Avengers: Endgame."

"Beauty and the Beast" made $175 million in its opening weekend in the US and ultimately grossed over $1 billion worldwide.

"The Lion King" opened early in China on Friday, and earned $13.4 million on its first day in early estimates , with more to come. Chinese movie-ticket service Maoyan is projecting the movie to ultimately make over $170 million in the region, according to Variety, which would make it the highest-grossing Disney remake in China ever.

Disney is the only studio that seems immune to this year's theatrical struggles, and has grossed over 40% of the domestic box office so far.

NOW WATCH: Tobey Maguire's 'Spider-Man' is a classic, even though it's one of the more under-appreciated superhero films