'The Lion King' rules with big box office opening for Disney - CNN

The film, which is a reboot of the studio's 1994 animated classic, has made an estimated $531 million worldwide in 10 days of release. That includes an estimated $185 million opening this weekend in North America. Analysts had projected that the film would make around $150 million for its domestic opening.

"The Lion King" also made $98 million in China — the world's second largest movie market.

Directed by Jon Favreau, "The Lion King" has an all star cast that includes Beyoncé, Donald Glover, John Oliver and Seth Rogen all lending their voice work to the film.

The film is the 9th highest-grossing opening ever, the biggest opening for the month of July and for a PG-rated film. "The Lion King" was also the second highest-grossing opening of the year behind "Avengers: Endgame," which this weekend passed 'Avatar' as the biggest box-office blockbuster ever.

"The Lion King" is another huge hit for Disney. The company has dominated the 2019 box office and now owns five of the top ten highest-grossing films of the year.

"'The Lion King' had a perfect release date, great marketing and above all boasts iconic characters that have resonated with audiences around the world for over two decades," Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Comscore (SCOR), told CNN Business.

The film brings to life the animals of Pride Rock using photo realistic visual effects. It won the weekend despite bad reviews — the film has a 55% score on review site Rotten Tomatoes.

Audiences were more favorable. "The Lion King" garnered an "A" CinemaScore from moviegoers.

"The Lion King" gave a much needed boost to the domestic box office, which has been struggling so far this year. The 2019 North American box office was down roughly 9% heading into Friday. Because of "The Lion King," this weekend's box office totals were up roughly 51% compared to the same weekend last year, according to Comscore.

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2019-07-21 15:41:00Z
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“The Lion King” And “Avengers: Endgame” Make Box Office History For Disney - BuzzFeed News

Marvel Studios, Disney

Avengers: Endgame and The Lion King.

Disney continued its unprecedented dominance of the film industry this weekend with two historic milestones at the box office.

First, The Lion King debuted with an estimated $185 million at the domestic box office, an elephantine haul that further affirms Disney’s ongoing strategy of remaking its animated classics as (seemingly) live-action films.

Coupled with the $346 million The Lion King has made internationally, the film has already grossed $531 million worldwide. (It opened on July 12 in China, and rolled out in almost all other global territories starting July 17.)

Second, Avengers: Endgame officially surpassed 2009’s Avatar as the highest grossing film worldwide of all time, with just over $2.79 billion in global returns.

BuzzFeed News

Endgame’s accomplishment comes with a pair of asterisks, however.

On the one hand, Avatar’s previous record included a series of theatrical re-releases in 2010 with additional footage. When looking only at the grosses from the initial theatrical release, Endgame actually surpassed Avatar weeks ago — aided by a theatrical expansion at the end of June designed to promote the release of the next Marvel Studios release, Spider-Man: Far From Home, which was produced by Sony Pictures.

On the other hand, when adjusting for domestic ticket price inflation, Endgame still ranks behind Avatar’s domestic grosses by a bit more than $100 million. It’s virtually impossible to adjust for ticket price inflation across every worldwide territory, between fluctuating currency exchange rates and unreliable record-keeping. But it’s clear that based on raw ticket sales, Avatar still outpaces Endgame by a considerable amount.

The Lion King, meanwhile, vaulted to the top 10 all-time opening weekends ever — and the best debut ever for a film from Walt Disney Pictures.

The Lion King surpassed the 2017 reimagining of Beauty and the Beast’s debut at $174.8 million, becoming the best opening weekend ever for Disney’s recent slate of new versions of its animated classics. May’s live-action Aladdin is nearing $1 billion in global grosses.

The Lion King’s success comes despite a decidedly mixed critical reception, which lauded the revolutionary visual effects technology employed by director Jon Favreau and his filmmaking team to make a photorealistic version of the beloved 1994 original animated feature. But critics slammed the lack of emotional expression or originality in the final product.

Audiences clearly did not mind, giving the film an “A” grade via polling firm CinemaScore, promising a long box office run through the rest of the summer. By the end of the month, The Lion King will join Endgame, Captain Marvel, Toy Story 4, and Aladdin among the top grossing films domestically of the year.

In other words, the top five films in the US and Canada this year were all made by studios owned by Disney.

The Lion King's financial success is especially validating for Disney's strategy of live-action remakes of its animated classics, which the studio plans to continue for the foreseeable future.

Maleficent: Mistress of Evil, the sequel to the 2014 blockbuster take on Sleeping Beauty with Angelina Jolie, opens in October. A live-action version of 1998’s Mulan debuts next March, followed by the 101 Dalmatians live-action prequel Cruella with Emma Stone in December 2020.

Disney is also finalizing its cast for the live-action remake of 1989’s The Little Mermaid from director Rob Marshall (Mary Poppins Returns), with Melissa McCarthy reportedly in talks to play the villain Ursula, and Halle Bailey set to play the titular heroine Ariel.

And there are also reportedly live-action theatrical versions of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and Lilo & Stitch in various stages of development.

It’s unclear if any of these projects will reach The Lion King’s heights — adjusting for ticket price inflation, the original Lion King is still the highest grossing animated film domestically of all time, so it makes sense that the remake would also be massively popular. (A tie-in album by Beyoncé — who voices the adult lioness Nala in the film — doesn’t hurt, either.) But so long as audiences keep flocking to Disney’s remakes, there will be plenty more where they came from.

Disney and "The Lion King"

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2019-07-21 15:32:00Z
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Simu Liu, Marvel's latest leading man, will soon be a 'household name' - CNN

If you don't know his name already, you will soon.

The actor has been cast as the lead in Marvel's "Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings," one of several new film projects announced by the studio Saturday night at San Diego Comic-Con.

He is set to star in the film alongside Awkwafina, who stormed 2018 with breakout roles in "Ocean's 8" and "Crazy Rich Asians," and Tony Leung.

Director Destin Daniel Cretton, best known for his moving indie "Short Term 12," will helm.

Liu's previous work includes the Canadian comedy "Kim's Convenience," which has found American audiences through Netflix.

On the show, he plays Jung, the oldest son of a convenience store owner.

He's also had roles on shows like "Nikita," "Warehouse 13" and "Taken."

"He'll be a household name soon enough," Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige told CNN after an announcement-packed panel.

According to a biography on his show's website, Liu immigrated to Canada from China with his parents when he was 5 years old. He worked as an accountant before getting into acting.

"All I've ever wanted to do when I was growing was make [my parents] proud," Liu said on stage at Comic-Con. "What I'm trying to say is, I'm really happy I'm not a doctor. So, take that mom and dad."

"Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings" hits theaters February 12, 2021.

Casting lauded

Liu has not been shy about his gunning for the role of Shang-Chi.

After news of his casting broke, he recalled a tweet from December 2018, in which he wrote, "OK @Marvel, are we gonna talk or what #ShangChi."

He joked in a tweet on Saturday, "Thanks for getting back to me."

Liu's casting drew praise from his peers, including actors Lewis Tan and Henry Golding.

Tan being among those who noted the importance of Liu's casting.

"Congrats Simu, looking forward to seeing what you do with the role and bigger than us, a step as we continue to breakdown walls and build a world where young Asian kids will see themselves on screen as a hero, feel empowered and have hope," Tan wrote.

Feige said he was proud of the representation shown on stage.

"Our films play around the world and we want the films to reflect that world," he said. "When you have people in front of the camera who reflect it it's great for audiences, when you have people behind it who reflect it, it's great for us because you get better stories and better ideas."

CNN's Scott Huver contributed to this report.

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2019-07-21 15:25:00Z
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Natalie Portman Celebrates Being Female Thor With Pre-Jacked 'Before Picture' - Cinema Blend

59 minutes ago

She's baaaack! Remember Natalie Portman this way, because she's ready to transform for Marvel's Phase 4. I don't think Portman is going to get Chris Hemsworth jacked when astrophysicist Jane Foster returns as the new Thor. But she did joke about getting into shape for Thor: Love and Thunder, which was just announced to great surprise last night at 2019 San Diego Comic-Con. Check out Portman's tease of what's to come:

Thor (Chris Hemsworth) got "fat" in Avengers: Endgame, Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson) took over ruling Asgard, and now Jane Foster is returning and maybe getting "jacked" for Thor: Love and Thunder. What a timeline we live in.

Just the other day, Taika Waititi was confirmed to be returning to direct Thor 4. Now we have a full title, a November 5, 2021 release date, and the announcement of Natalie Portman's return as Jane Foster.

The new movie is meant to be based on Jason Aaron’s Mighty Thor comic series, showing Jane Foster as worthy enough to wield Mjolnir and taking over as the new Thor. Since Taika Waititi is making the movie, I think fans can trust that he'll put his own worthy spin on the arc. He won't let anyone down.

Last we heard, Thor and Jane had split up -- she may have dumped him, although Thor liked to see it as mutual. It was a pleasant surprise to see Jane Foster again in Avengers: Endgame, since Jane seemed to be cut from the story after Thor: The Dark World. All Natalie Portman did for Endgame was some voice-over work, but it was a clever way to introduce her back into the MCU and keep her fresh in our minds before her next return.

After that, she said she was open to a return but had no news. Sounds like she was waiting for Kevin Feige to call her agent and say they finally knew what to do next with Dr. Jane Foster.

Oh, and Avengers: Endgame just topped Avatar. Bam. What a weekend for Marvel. I'm so excited for Natalie Portman to return to the MCU sandbox with a more meaty role to play. Thor: Love and Thunder was announced as opening in theaters on November 5, 2021.

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2019-07-21 14:43:00Z
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Marvel LGBTQ Characters Confirmed for Eternals and Thor 4 - Collider.com

Representation in superhero movies will get a pretty significant boost in Phase Four of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. While allusions were previously made to the fact that Tessa Thompson’s Thor: Ragnarok character Valkyrie was part of the LGBTQ community (both in the film and from Thompson’s public comments), when Thompson took the Hall H stage during Marvel’s 2019 San Diego Comic-Con panel to tease Thor 4, she announced that the sequel would find Valkyrie “looking for her Queen.” If you’ll recall, at the end of Avengers: Endgame, Chris Hemsworth’s Thor passes his King of Asgard mantle on to Valkyrie, and it appears that storyline will be picked up heavily in Thor: Love and Thunder, which will also find Taika Waititi returning to the director’s chair and will bring back Natalie Portman’s Jane Foster as, yes, female Thor.

And while Thompson’s comments during the Marvel panel were unmistakable, it’s always nice to have explicit confirmation. So when Collider’s own Steve Weintraub caught up with Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige backstage after the panel, he asked Feige if he could confirm that Valkyrie will be explicitly part of the LGBTQ community in Thor: Love and Thunder. He not only confirmed it, but teased other LGBTQ Marvel characters:

“Yes that’s the case, and will be the case not just with [Valkyrie] but with other characters in some of the movies we talked about today.”

When pressed if there’s an LGBTQ character in The Eternals, Feige confirmed that yes, that’s the case. The Eternals is one of the new Marvel movies hitting theaters in 2020 and adapts the truly strange Jack Kirby comic to the big screen. The story revolves around a group of immortal beings as they consider what it means to be human, and the diverse ensemble features Angelina Jolie, Richard Madden, Kumail Nanjiani, Salma Hayek, and Brian Tyree Henry.

Feige and Co. snagged acclaimed The Rider filmmaker Chloe Zhao to direct The Eternals, which starts filming later this year, but it appears fans have yet another reason to look forward to this fascinating film. Feige didn’t reveal which character will be part of the LGBTQ community, but the cast of characters for the film are as follows:

Richard Madden as Ikaris

Kumail Nanjiani as Kingo

Lauren Ridloff as Makkari

Brian Tyree Henry as Phastos

Salma Hayek as Ajak

Lia McHugh as Sprite

Don Lee as Gilgamesh

Angelina Jolie as Thena

The Eternals is slated to hit theaters on November 6, 2020, while Thor: Love and Thunder will be released on November 5, 2021. Look for more from our Marvel interviews soon, and if you missed all the big Marvel news on Saturday peruse our list of stories below:

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2019-07-21 14:28:07Z
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Marvel Unveils Phase 4 Plans: ‘Thor 4,’ ‘Eternals,’ ‘Blade’ Reboot - Rolling Stone

The Marvel Cinematic Universe unveiled its long-awaited Phase 4 plans Saturday at San Diego Comic-Con, with the studio announcing a slate of returning superheroes, new franchises, Disney+ series and a reboot that will be released over the next two years.

Among the returning Avengers, Scarlett Johansson’s Black Widow will receive a standalone film set for release on May 1st, 2020, the first of the Phase 4 projects. That film co-stars Florence Pugh, David Harbour and Rachel Weisz and is directed by Cate Shortland.

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness – the sequel to Benedict Cumberbatch’s 2016 superhero origin film and a movie that was dubbed the first “horror” film in the MCU – arrives May 7th, 2021 with director Scott Derrickson back at the helm. Elizabeth Olsen’s Scarlet Witch will co-star in the Doctor Strange sequel; Olsen’s character will also headline her own Disney+ series, WandaVision, alongside Paul Bettany’s Vision in Spring 2021.

Related

I Tried Watching 22 Marvel Movies in 1 Theater for 3 Days and Went Insane

Secrets of the Superheroes: 10 Greatest Marvel Moments

The fourth Thor film, Thor: Love and Thunder, strikes November 5th, 2021 with director Taika Waititi, Chris Hemsworth, Tessa Thompson and Natalie Portman all reprising their roles. According to reports from the Comic-Con panel, the plot will find Portman’s Jane Foster becoming the Mighty Thor, as the character did in the comics. “I’ve always had hammer envy,” Portman said at the panel (via Variety).

Disney+, the studio’s upcoming streaming service, also announced series dedicated to The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (Fall 2020), Tom Hiddleston’s Loki (Spring 2021) and Jeremy Renner’s Hawkeye (Fall 2021), as well as an animated series titled What If?, based on the speculative comic book, that will feature Jeffrey Wright as the Watcher.

Among the new properties, Marvel’s long-expected Eternals was also formally announced, with Richard Madden as Ikaris, Kumail Nanjiani as Kingo, Brian Tyree Henry as Phastos, Salma Hayek as Ajak and Angelina Jolie as Thena among the cast. The Rider‘s Chloe Zhao will direct the film, which is due out November 6th, 2020.

Marvel’s kung fu master Shang-Chi will make his big screen debut in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, starring Simu Lui as the title character, Tony Leung as the Mandarin and and Awkwafina in an unspecified role. That blockbuster drops February 12th, 2021.

Finally, Marvel announced plans to reboot Blade with Mahershala Ali filling the vampire-slaying role once played by Wesley Snipes. This is Ali’s second appearance in a Marvel property, having previously portrayed Cottonmouth in Netflix’s Luke Cage series. The Oscar-winning actor approached Marvel about reviving the beloved comic. No release date was set for the reboot.

Marvel’s Kevin Feige also discussed the studio’s plans beyond 2021, revealing that another reboot of Fantastic 4 is in motion thanks to Disney’s absorption of the Fox property. However, Marvel Studios has no future plans for X-Men, another former Fox franchise, at the moment.

New Chapter..
New Beginning..
Which movie in ‘Marvel Phase 4’ you are more excited for? pic.twitter.com/dKOq5VSP4d

— Marvel Universe (@77MCU) July 21, 2019

In This Article: Comic-Con, Marvel, The Avengers

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2019-07-21 13:03:00Z
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Marvel's Eternals movie with Angelina Jolie, Richard Madden explained - CNET

The Eternals gather at San Diego Comic-Con 2019: Kumail Nanjiani, Brian Tyree Henry, Salma Hayek, Richard Madden, Lia McHugh, Angelina Jolie, Don Lee and Lauren Ridloff.

Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images for Disney

Saturday's wild unveiling of the Marvel Cinematic Universe's Phase 4 at San Diego Comic-Con 2019 might have been your first time hearing about he Eternals -- set for release Nov. 6, 2020. They're the next superpowered group to join the MCU and Marvel Studios sure has assembled a superpowered cast to get everyone interested in this cinematic debut.

Marvel Studios head honcho Kevin Feige introduced the cast and director Chloe Zhao at the Marvel Studios panel. Her previous film, The Rider, got a score of 92 on CNET sister site Metacritic. But it's also a naturalistic indie film, a far cry from the effects-driven banging and crashing of a Marvel movie. She'll no doubt bring a cool sensibility to the Eternals.

Jolie, who'll play Thena, greets Hall H on Saturday.

Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images for Disney

But what even is an Eternal, you ask? You've already met one: Thanos. The big purple mass murderer took center stage in Avengers: Infinity War and took on a whole bunch of heroes Endgame. Like Captain Marvel and Guardians of the Galaxy, The Eternals will shine the spotlight on Marvel's cosmic comic characters. 

Ikarus will be played by Richard Madden. You know he's intense character because he's shooting eye-beams into the sky on the cover of the sixth issue of Marvel's 2008 Eternals comic series.

Marvel Comics

Who are the Eternals?

Thanos may be the only Eternal we've seen on screen, but Eternals have a comic history that stretches back to 1976. They were dreamed up by Jack Kirby, co-creator of the Avengers, the Fantastic Four and the X-Men, after he created the very similar New Gods for DC six years earlier.

In the comics, they're an evolutionary offshoot of humanity living on Earth who possess greater powers and have longer lifespans. The Celestials, a group of space gods, created them to defend Earth.

For more on the characters from the comics, check out our sister site ComicBook.com's detailed explainer. 

What else is coming in Phase 4?

Feige gave us plenty of other movies to salivate over during the MCU panel: Black Widow, Thor 4: Love and Thunder, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and Blade. 

Now playing: Watch this: Marvel's Phase 4 plan explained

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He also dished out some details about the Marvel TV shows coming to the Disney Plus streaming service: WandaVision, Loki, The Falcon and Winter Soldier, the animated What If...? and Hawkeye. 

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2019-07-21 11:50:00Z
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