The stage adaptation of the Disney classic, The Lion King has entered the record books by becoming the highest grossing production in any form of entertainment confirmed a spokesperson for the Walt Disney Company on Monday.
The musical, which has been running on Broadway since 1997, has been playing around the world and has exceeded the takings of the animated film of the same name, which are close to $1 billion.
“It is the highest-grossing total in box office history,” a spokesperson told Reuters. The spokesperson said the show had reached the new record during the summer.
The Lion King musical is based on the 1994 animated Disney film, that takes inspiration from the Shakespearean play, Hamlet. It follows the journey of Simba, a young lion born into animal royalty. When Simba is ousted into the wild by his evil uncle, Scar, he overcomes adversity with the help of his friends Timon and Pumbaa to reclaim his place as the rightful king of Pride Rock.
The broadway musical, which is directed by Julie Taymor, features songs composed by legendary singer Elton John and lyrics by Tim Rice. The Lion King garnered two Academy Awards for its achievement in music and the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture — Musical or Comedy.
The film spawned many derived works, such as a Broadway adaptation, two direct-to-video follow-ups — the sequel The Lion King II: Simba’s Pride in 1998 and the prequel/parallel The Lion King 1½ in 2004 along with two spin-off series Timon and Pumbaa and The Lion Guard. Alongside that, three different video games based on the movie were released on multiple gaming platforms in December 1994.
The movie is consistently ranked amongst one of the greatest films ever made with TIME naming it one of the “The 25 All-TIME Best Animated Films” and was also ranked fourth in the animation genre in the American Film Institute’s (AFI’s) Top 10 List.
“It’s difficult not to become emotional at this realisation of the show’s impact,” said Thomas Schumacher, president and producer at Disney Theatrical Productions. The total makes The Lion King more valuable than any single Harry Potter film, the blockbuster Titanic or any of the Star Wars movies. By way of comparison, the highest-grossing film in history is Avatar, with nearly 2.8 billion$ worldwide, according to Disney.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 24th, 2014.
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