Disney’s live-action adaptation of Beauty and the Beast earned enough in ticket sales over the weekend to become the 10th highest grossing film of all time at the international box office. Released March 17, director Bill Condon’s remake of the 1991 animated classic grossed nearly $175 million domestically and doubled that amount overseas for a remarkable global box office take of $350 million in its first weekend.
In less than a month as it expanded to more foreign territories, Beauty and the Beast crossed the $1 billion mark, passing the live-action Disney monolith The Jungle Book from 2016 (which finished with nearly $967 million globally) and it chugged toward besting the live-action version of Alice in Wonderland, which clocked out at $1.025.5 billion in 2010.
According to Box Office Mojo, Beauty and the Beast finished 9th place domestically over the weekend with $2.4 million in ticket sales at 1,792 locations. Along with foreign ticket sales, the film has earned $1.221.8 global tally, more than enough to pass the Disney/Marvel Studios blockbuster Iron Man 3 (which finished its run in 2013 with $1.214.8 billion) to become the No. 10 film on the all-time global list. Beauty and the Beast will next take aim at its Disney cousin Frozen, which sits at No. 9 on the all-time global chart with $1.276.5 in ticket sales.
Including Beauty and the Beast, Disney is clearly the dominating force on the all-time box office charts as the studio behind 5 of the top 10 films. In addition to Beauty and Frozen, the Mouse House also produced the No. 3 blockbuster Star Wars: The Force Awakens, which grossed $2.068.2 billion after its 2015 release; as well as 2012’s Marvel’s The Avengers (at No. 5 with $1.581.8 billion) and 2015’s Avengers: Age of Ultron ($1.405.4 billion).
While Beauty and the Beast will at best have enough gas left to move past Frozen (with its video release in the U.S. June 6, the film will need a lot of help from foreign territories), Disney’s next best hope at the all-time global champ Avatar ($2.788 billion) or No. 2 on the list, Titanic (2.186.8 billion) will likely come with Star Wars: The Last Jedi in December.
Obviously the return of the Skywalker family saga in 2015 with The Force Awakens captivated moviegoers and with the inclusion of Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) in the main narrative in The Last Jedi will certainly go a long way for the film to achieve its box office goals. Although there’s also several live-action remakes of their animated classics on the way that could repeat Beauty‘s success, most probably The Lion King, which is a similar 1990s renaissance hit and has Jon Favreau, also behind The Jungle Book, directing.
