Box Office Monday – The Lion King

Oct 26, 20110507

Four new films released state side last week tried their best but failed to dethrone The Lion King from the top spot. Brad Pitt’s new sports comedy ‘Moneyball’ briefly looked like it was ahead of the Lion King but Sunday’s takings put that to bed. Actor turned director Charles Martin Smith’s Dolphin Tale came in at number 3, the family comedy stars Morgan Freeman and Ashley Judd.

Not even Taylor Lautner’s abs could muster a number 1 spot for Abduction, the very by the numbers action thriller managed $11 Million. Jason Statham’s The Killer Elite rounded off the highest of the new entries.

Opening weekends for the top 3 were very tight and it says it all that 4 new releases struggled to compete with a Disney re-release. The rest of the US top 10 looks like this.

1 The Lion King (in 3D) $22,130,000

2 Moneyball $20,600,000

3 Dolphin Tale $20,260,000

4 Abduction $11,200,000

5 Killer Elite $9,500,000

6 Contagion $8,565,000

7 Drive (2011) $5,771,000

8 The Help $4,400,000

9 Straw Dogs (2011) $2,100,000

10 I Don’t Know How She Does It $2,053,000

Gerard Butler’s new film Machine Gun Preacher is on a very limited release showing on 4 screens, this is ahead of it’s wide release later in the year. Now I love The Lion King, it stands as one of the finest modern Disney films. That said I loathe 3D on pretty much every level, while I am dying to see Simba and co back on the big screen, I think I will wait for Blu Ray (none 3D of course).