The Lion King, a remake of Disney’s much-loved 1994 animated film by the same name, has opened to terrific response at the box office. The film, on its first day in cinemas, collected an estimated Rs 10 crore. Film distributor and exhibitor Raj Bansal, in a tweet on Saturday, informed about the film’s business. His post read, “#TheLionKing @disneylionking collected ₹10 Cr.on Day1 #India”
Keeping in view the fact that The Lion King is primarily for kids and families, who usually turn up in cinemas on Saturday and Sunday, the Friday collection is more than just decent. Substantial growth over the next two days can be expected, which implies that the film is set for a healthy first weekend.
The Lion King registered an occupancy of 30 to 35 per cent during morning shows on Friday to become 2019’s seventh-highest opener. The response is better than that of films Kalank, Total Dhamaal and Kesari, which is quite a feat. The film, however, lagged behind Spiderman: Far From Home, another Hollywood flick that released a couple of weeks ago.
The Lion King has met with mixed critical reception, something which is expected to affect its performance at the box office. Most critics across India called the film a “visual spectacle that lacked soul.” The film, they noted, is devoid of Disney’s magic that made the original work.
The Hindi releases of the week, Family of Thakurganj and Jhootha Kahin Ka, have opened to extremely dull response at the box office, which is great news for The Lion King. The Hrithik Roshan-starrer Super 30, though, might pose competition for the film. The Vikas Bahl directorial, based on the life of Patna-based mathematician and educationist Anand Kumar, has collected over Rs 75 crore in its first-week run. How these two films perform against each other would be interesting to see.
