Author: Trafficblast

Disney’s latest remake, The Lion King, charged into theatres this weekend and it broke a lot of box office records. The movie, which features photorealistic animals voiced by entertainment A-listers like Donald Glover and Beyonce, made around $185 million in North America for its first three days. Adding international numbers, The Lion King has now made $531 million thus far. This includes $97 million from China, where it opened a week earlier.

Billboard has a breakdown of all the records that The Lion King has broken.

With $185 million in the US and Canada, The Lion King surpasses Beauty and the Beast ($174.7 million) to become the biggest opening of all time for a Disney remake in North America. Additionally, The Lion King now holds the record for biggest North American release for a live-action or animated PG-rated film from any studio; The Incredibles 2 ($182.7 million) held the record before.

The new Lion King also beat out Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows — Part 2 ($169.2 million) for the record of highest July opening in North America. Additionally, The Lion King is now Disney’s biggest opening ever in North America outside of Marvel or Lucasfilm movies.

All of these records for the new Lion King share the caveat that they are not adjusted for inflation.

The Lion King is directed by Jon Favreau. Glover voices Simba, while Beyonce plays Nala. James Earl Jones reprises his role from the 1994 animated classic as Mufasa, while Chiwetel Ejiofor voices Scar. Seth Rogen and Billy Eichner play Pumbaa and Timon, respectively.

In other news about Disney movies making a lot of money, Avengers: Endgame has now surpassed Avatar to become the highest-grossing movie in history. As it happens, Avatar is now a Disney property following Disney’s acquisition of Fox’s entertainment assets.

July 19-21 US/Canada Box Office

Via EW

1. The Lion King — $185 million
2. Spider-Man: Far From Home — $21 million
3. Toy Story 4 — $14.6 million
4. Crawl — $6 million
5. Yesterday — $5.1 million
6. Stuber — $4 million
7. Aladdin — $3.8 million
8. Annabelle Comes Home — $2.7 million
9. Midsommar — $1.6 million
10. The Secret Life of Pets 2 –$1.5 million

2007’s The Simpsons Movie was an enormous success. Critics and fans generally enjoyed it, while it made a gargantuan $527 million against a reported budget of $75 million. So why hasn’t there been a sequel? It’s a topic that has come up a number of times over the years, and it did so again at San Diego Comic-Con this weekend. Simpsons creator Matt Groening said during a panel that it was a tremendously difficult challenge to make the movie, and it’s not something that the production team wanted to rush back into right away.

“The first Simpsons movie killed us,” Groening explained, as reported by IGN. The reason for that was because the same team behind the TV show also made the movie. There was no separate production team for the movie. As such, the cast and crew had to complete The Simpsons Movie in between seasons of the show. Now, some 12 years later, Groening says the team is almost back to a place where they might consider making another movie.

“We’re almost recovered. No doubt there will be another Simpsons movie one of these days. Disney wants something for its money,” Groening said.

Disney recently acquired the majority of Fox’s entertainment assets in one of the biggest buyouts in media history at $71.3 billion. For that price, Disney got The Simpsons, Family Guy, Deadpool, X-Men, Avatar, and many others, in addition to TV networks and film studios.

During the end credits of The Simpsons Movie, Maggie says “Sequel?” Ever since then, fans have been wondering when that sequel might be made. According to series producer Al Jean, a sequel to The Simpsons Movie probably won’t happen until The Simpsons TV show goes off the air.

“The movie was such a time-intensive operation, it pulled a lot away from the show. I would rather end the show whenever that happens before doing another movie. It’s unlikely there’ll be another Simpsons feature while the show is being produced.”

In February this year, The Simpsons was renewed for Seasons 31 and 32. Season 31 will premiere in September 2019.

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Following yesterday’s teaser, Blizzard has now put out another mysterious image related to Overwatch. While the first showed Jeff Kaplan getting sucked into a black hole, this one appears to show a name badge which, importantly, features the Greek alphabet symbol for Sigma. Those that have been paying attention to recent Overwatch leaks will know that Sigma is believed to be the name of Hero 31.

This all but confirms that a new hero should be joining Overwatch pretty soon. This would be the 31st playable character on the roster. The last one to debut was the combat medic Baptiste in March.

Blizzard is currently testing a new Role Queue feature in the public test realm, which totally revises how players engage with matchmaking. Instead of picking a hero, you choose from one of the three role types: tank, support, or damage. Then you’re put into a team composed of two players of each type. The move is intended to help with team composition, and it comes with a suite of changes to skill ratings and leaderboards. It will roll out as a beta on August 13.

Meanwhile, Overwatch is currently celebrating its Summer Games event. The yearly event offers special challenges and exclusive cosmetics to earn. As usual they’re themed after beating the heat with some summer wear, like a swimsuit for Hanzo or a very beachy Torbjorn.