Disney’s remake of “The Lion King” was feeling the love on Thursday night from audiences, earning $23 million in box office previews, a total that cracks it in the top 20 of all-time Thursday releases.
That’s more than the total earned on Thursday from Disney’s remake of “Beauty and the Beast” from 2017, which brought in $16.3 million before grossing $174.7 million in its opening weekend. Compare that to “Aladdin” from earlier this year, which swiped $7 million in previews and made $91.5 million in its first weekend.
Director Jon Favreau’s “The Lion King” is looking at an opening between $150-180 million, and while the film is facing some mixed social media buzz and a disappointing 56% score on Rotten Tomatoes, figures from Fandango say the film is the second biggest selling movie in presales in 2019 behind only “Avengers: Endgame,” suggesting it could easily outperform.