The Lion King live-action remake has broken a HUGE box office record

Disney's live-action remake of The Lion King was only released in cinemas on Friday 19th July, but it's already broken a huge box office record! The adaptation of the 1994 animated film, which starred Beyoncé Knowles-Carter as Nala and Donald Glover as Simba, has become the highest-grossing animated film EVER.

Overtaking 2013 Disney film Frozen, which swept the world up into a frenzy at the time, earned $1.27 billion (£1.05 billion) at the time, but the 2019 version of The Lion King has earned $1.33 billion (£1.1 billion), according to Box Office Mojo.

This puts the live-action remake of The Lion King the 12th highest-grossing film of all time, and could even apparently overtake both Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 2 and Black Panther.

Harry Potter is currently 12th on $1.341 billion (£1.111 billion), and Black Panther is 11th on $1.346 billion (£1.115 billion) - meaning that The Lion King only has to earn another $16 million (£13,252,800). Casual.

This comes after the news that the original animated Lion King could have had a VERY different soundtrack. The music and lyrics were written by Sir Elton John and Tim Rice, but apparently, ABBA were in the running!

According to a report by Polygon, Lion King producer Don Hahn said in the production notes, "It was a real head scratcher for a lot of us. But they ABBA couldn’t do it. There were conflicts — they got a tour or a new album they were working on or something. His next idea was Elton John, which to a degree was also a head scratcher because he hadn’t done a musical before."

NOW WATCH: The Lion King Cast Are Tested On How Well They Know Each Other

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