Aladdin’s Magic Continues: Film Passes $1 Billion Worldwide
For all the consternation and hand-wringing about live-action (photorealistic?) Disney remakes, the worldwide box office (and the $2.18 Disney stock dividend in my account ) says that things are looking pretty good for The Mouse.
Case in point, Aladdin (2019) just passed $1,000,000,000 in ticket sales.
The Magic Carpet Ride Continues
Disney’s Aladdin is scoring a hat-trick for the studio today, becoming its third film of 2019 to pass the $1 billion mark at the worldwide box office. The Guy Ritchie-directed live-action remake of the 1992 animated classic grossed $999.3M globally through Thursday, with $343.1M domestically and $656.2M at the international box office. This makes Aladdin the fifth Disney-branded live-action release to ever cross the $1B threshold, alongside Beauty and the Beast, Alice In Wonderland and the second and fourth Pirates of the Caribbean films.
Disney is now on pace to potentially end the year with as many as seven movies joining the billion-dollar club. Based on their performances thus far, Toy Story 4 and The Lion King should cross that threshold in the coming weeks. Then, Frozen II in November will likely have no problem crossing $1 billion after the original film grossed $1.2 billion in 2013, and Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker falling short of $1 billion would be downright stunning; its predecessor, The Last Jedi, grossed $1.3 billion worldwide in 2017.
This would be a remarkable feat even for Disney, which only released three billion-dollar films in 2018: Avengers: Infinity War, Black Panther, and Incredibles 2. In 2017, they only had two: Star Wars: The Last Jedi and Beauty and the Beast. In 2016, they had four: Captain America: Civil War, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Finding Dory, and Zootopia.
More Aladdin In The Offing?
Meanwhile, this writer’s favorite movie business reporter, Forbes Scott Mendelson, posited:
Aladdin has earned $1 billion worldwide on a $183 million budget, guaranteeing that we’ll keep getting these Disney remakes. Some of them will be as good as Cinderella, and some of them will be as bad as Beauty and the Beast, but the formula seems to be working. What makes Aladdin unique is that the appeal of its human cast and the existence of two direct-to-VHS feature-length sequels means that the IP is more sequel-friendly than The Jungle Book or even The Lion King. So don’t be shocked to see Aladdin and the King of Thieves in theaters in a few years.
I won’t be shocked, but I will be in line.
Did you love Aladdin? Would you go see a sequel? Let us know in the comments.