'The Lion King' is now Disney's most successful film outside of 'Marvel' and 'Star Wars'

Jon Favreau’s The Lion King continues to do gangbusters at the box office where it has amassed $1.33 billion (£1.24 billion) globally since it was released on 19 July.

Thanks to another strong weekend at the box office, the photorealistic CGI remake of the 1994 animation has overtaken 2017’s Beauty and the Beast lifetime gross of $1.26 billion (£1.047 billion) to become the studio’s most successful film beyond the Marvel and Star Wars franchises.

Read more: The Lion King animators share resentment

Not only that, but it’s also now the 12th highest grossing worldwide release of all-time, and - if we’re counting it as an animated film, like the film’s own VFX supervisor is - it’s now Disney’s most successful animation of all time too besting 2013’s Frozen's $1.276 billion (£1.057 billion) haul.

Data courtesy of BoxOfficeMojo.com

The film has now been number one at the U.K. box office for 24 consecutive days since its release on July 19, the longest any film has spent at number one this year.

With a few weeks of the school holidays remaining here in the U.K., and very few family-friendly releases that will challenge its dominance (Dora The Explorer, Uglydolls, and Asterix: The Secret Of The Magic Potion seem unlikely to trouble the King) it seems like The Lion King will continue to devour the opposition at the box office this summer.

However, Disney will reassert its box office supremacy later this year with the release of Maleficent: Mistress of Evil on 18 October, Frozen II on 22 November, and Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker on 19 December.

Additionally, this week Disney and Pixar’s Toy Story 4 overtook Incredibles 2 to become the second biggest animated film ever in the UK. The result means the Toy Story series dominates the top of the all-time animation chart with number one and two. Toy Story 3 is still the biggest grossing animated film of all time in the UK and Ireland with Pixar now holding the top three animated films of all time.

Directed by Jon Favreau and featuring the voice talents of Donald Glover, Beyoncé Knowles-Carter, James Earl Jones, Seth Rogen, and John Oliver, the new Lion King received mixed reviews from film critics, but it has clearly won over audiences who’ve flocked to see the classic story reimagined with state of the art VFX.

Watch our video with the film’s VFX supervisor, MPC’s Adam Valdez, to find out how it was made below.

The Lion King is in cinemas now.