STAR-KING LION-WARS
Hollywood’s 3D redos are re-writing box office history, Variety's Andrew Stewart reports. By the end of Friday, Fox’s STAR WARS: EPISODE I - THE PHANTOM MENACE, with a lifetime gross of $456 million as of Wednesday, will become the highest-grossing PG-rated film of all time, surpassing the original STAR WARS at $460 million (not accounting for inflation). EPISODE I premiered last weekend for the first time in 3D, collecting a better-than-expected $22.5 million. THE LION KING meanwhile, nabbed the G-rated crown from TOY STORY 3 last year. Here’s how that 3D shake-up shakes out: Disney launched its 3D LION KING to a blowout Stateside tally of $94 million. Added to the film’s large-format (including Imax) re-release in 2002, which totaled $15.7 million, THE LION KING has cumed a grand U.S. total of $423 million. TOY STORY 3 ended with $415 million. Records aside, these 3D redos have become a tidy way for studios to boost their bottom line. Disney currently has three more conversions slated for this year and next, including FINDING NEMO, MONSTERS, INC., and THE LITTLE MERMAID. Up next is James Cameron’s 3D treatment of TITANIC, which Paramount is releasing on April 4. It would need to make $160 milllion Stateside to reclaim its all-time box office crown from AVATAR — not much of a stretch, given the frenzy it created when it was originally released in 1997.
