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SYFY WIRE Box Office

Box Office: The Lion King reigns supreme while Spider-Man stays a contender

By Nicholas Slayton
The Lion King

In the circle of life, the lion beats the spider.

At least, that's the takeaway from the box office this weekend, as Disney's CGI, photorealistic The Lion King remake took the top spot at the box office. Jon Favreau's film raked in an estimated $192 million, counting Thursday night preview screenings.

The new film, starring Donald Glover as Simba, as well as Beyonce and returning cast member James Earl Jones, is Favreau's biggest opening at the box office, topping Iron Man and Iron Man 2. Per Disney's own estimates, with overseas numbers factored in, The Lion King has raked in $531 million so far.

The former champ at the movies, Spider-Man: Far from Home dropped to second place, with a 53 percent drop in sales. It still brought in $21 million, showing people are still interested in seeing Peter Parker's excellent adventure in Europe with Jake Gyllenhaal's Mysterio. Far From Home now has a total of $319.7 million at the domestic box office. That's still good news for Disney, the studio behind both Spider-Man and The Lion King.

Disney and Pixar slid into third with Toy Story 4, which brought in $14.6 million. Directed by Josh Cooley, the latest adventure of Tom Hanks' Woody and the other toys might be the last outing — a fifth film hasn't been announced — but audiences are still going out for the family-friendly movie. This weekend brings its domestic total to $375.5 million.

Creature features still have some bite, too. The giant alligator disaster film Crawl stayed in the top five, nabbing fourth place with $6 million domestically. The film follows a father and daughter (Barry Pepper and Kaya Scodelario) trapped in their home by a massive hurricane and beset by the beasts. This weekend brings Crawl's domestic gains to $23.8 million.

Rounding out the top five this weekend was Danny Boyle's Yesterday. The film — about a man who wakes up to discover no one remembers The Beatles, and proceeds to become a star by playing their music— added $5.1 to its now $57.5 million gain. The movie stars Hamish Patel, Lily James, and Kate McKinnon.

Meanwhile, Avengers: Endgame continued to make money. The film, which this week officially became the top grossing movie of all time with $2.7892 billion globally and dethroning Avatar, was 11th in domestic ticket sales, bringing in another $1.1 million.

What did you see this weekend? Was it good? Let us know in the comments!