South African audiences can’t seem to get enough of Disney’s ‘The Lion King’ adaptation. The film has been sitting at the top of the local box for weeks and today, Disney has announced that the film has earned more than R100 million at the local box office – making it only the third film in history to do so.
With over R101m in local box office takings, the all-new film joins the R100m club that already features last year’s Black Panther and this year’s Avengers: Endgame, both from Marvel Studios. Together with 2018’s Marvel Studios’ Avengers: Infinity War, Walt Disney Studios releases now account for the top 4 films of all time at the South African Box Office.
To date, over 1.2 million South Africans have seen ‘The Lion King’ on the big screen – a massive feat for the local film industry.
“We are thrilled at the overwhelming response that South African audiences have shown The Lion King, a story grounded on the continent that celebrates so much of the creativity and beauty of what Africa has to offer,” says Christine Service, Senior Vice President of The Walt Disney Company Africa. “We are equally delighted that the stories from our studios, whether they be Disney, Pixar, Lucasfilm, Marvel Studios or 20th Century Fox, continue to resonate with local audiences to this extent – we look forward to sharing more upcoming releases in 2019, including Maleficent: Mistress of Evil in October as well as Frozen 2 and Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker this festive season.”
This past weekend also saw the culmination of The Lion King Screening Programme whereby The Walt Disney Company Africa, in collaboration with Hyundai Santa Fe, FNB and Attacq Foundation saw up to 10 000 high school learners from under-served communities across the country experiencing the ground-breaking new film at Ster-Kinekor Theatres.
‘The Lion King’ is in theatres across the country now.
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