The Lion King made R24.5m in South Africa in its first weekend

Disney’s new uncanny valley Lion King remake may have been disliked by critics, but it sure is appealing to South African movie goers.

In its first weekend at the local box office, the flick made R24.5-million from more than 274 000 appearances, placing it third on the all time list of biggest openings in South Africa. In case you’re wondering, it’s only pipped by Avengers: Endgame, and Avengers: Infinity War.

It is however the biggest opening for a Disney-branded film.

It made R6.4-million on its Friday opening — the biggest opening day for a movie in July in South Africa (we really don’t like seeing flicks in winter), and R9.8-million on Saturday — the second biggest single day ever.

How does it compare to Aladdin, Spider-Man?

All these numbers effectively means it opened at the top of the southern African box office this past weekend, pipping Disney’s other Avengers-related vehicle, Spider-Man: Far From Home, from the weekend’s top spot.

But it’s third-placed Aladdin that currently has the highest lifetime domestic gross on circuit, making R40.9-million since its debut at the end of May, according to data from distributor Filmfinity.

Beyond southern Africa, The Lion King did well in Kenya and Nigeria too, accruing KES 16.2-million and N74.5-million in those two countries respectively.

And in terms of global numbers, it made $543.6-million according to BoxOfficeMojo, making it the 182nd biggest film ever only just behind 2016’s X-Men: Apocalypse.

Feature image: Disney Enterprises