Online Reporter
LOS ANGELES. —This week marked the arrival of several exciting new titles to VOD, with the likes of Oscar contender The Brutalist, Pamela Anderson’s The Last Showgirl, and the animated hit Dog Man all making their way to our home screens.
Perhaps most exciting of all was the arrival of Mufasa: The Lion King, with Barry Jenkins’ prequel/sequel proving a huge hit in theatres and, subsequently, a promising prospect on VOD. Despite this, the movie continues its theatrical run, with a 315-theatre drop from last Thursday to the most recent weekend not stopping the film from proving popular yet again with theatre goers.
In fact, despite Friday, marking the movie’s tenth weekend in theatres, Mufasa: The Lion King still remarkably earned US$2.5 million in the United States, even finishing in sixth place in the box office rankings on both Saturday and Sunday.
This total took Mufasa: The Lion King to just shy of US$700 million worldwide, split between US$245 million in teh US and over US$453 million internationally.
Although not as commercially successful as the 2019 installment’s eye-watering US$1.6 billion worldwide, this is still a total all those involved can be incredibly proud of, with expectations now that Mufasa: The Lion King will still pass the US$250 million mark in the US before it finally exits theatres.
All this financial success has come off the back of mixed critical reception, with the 90s original still considered universally untouchable in comparison. A 57percent critical score on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes might be balanced out by a strong 89% audience rating, but that does nothing to stop many from feeling this is still one venture Disney aren’t all-out succeeding with.
Although the Rotten Tomatoes score is just a touch better than the 2019 installment, Mufasa: The Lion King’s reception pales in comparison to the remarkable “certified fresh” 93% critical and audience rating held by the 1994 original. — Collider
