The Lion King
Theater goers stand in line for tickets to "The Lion King" near Time's Square in New York, Nov.29, 2007. Reuters

Once again, The Lion King hits it big at the Box Office, raking in $29.3 million in the first weekend.

Seventeen years after its initial release, The Lion King was back with a 3D re-release. This was far more than the expected $15 million that the movie was expected to take in on its first week, according to Reuters. In addition to the money it grossed domestically, the Lion King grossed $12.1 million internationally.

Of course, this version of The Lion King has a long way to go before it reaches the 1994 level. The box office total for the first Lion King was nearly $784 million. According to Box Office Mojo, that total places The Lion King as sixth all-time in terms of animated movies, and first for the 1990's.

Reuters notes that this is the first re-release in 14 years to make it to No.1 at the box office-The Return of the Jedi being the last. How has the movie become so successful?

It comes back to the theme of the film-the circle of life, Dave Hollis, Disney's distribution chief, told TheWrap on Sunday. You've got kids who saw it and loved it and it became part of their world...Now they themselves have kids and they're excited about bringing their kids to the theaters to see it the way they remember seeing it-on the big screen.

Here is a list of the top 10 movies at the box office for the week:

  • 1. The Lion King ($29.3 million)
  • 2. Contagion ($14.48 million)
  • 3. Drive ($11.01 million)
  • 4. The Help ($6.43 million)
  • 5. Straw Dogs ($5 million)
  • 6. I Don't Kow How She Does It ($4.5 million)
  • 7. The Debt ($2.94 million)
  • 8. Warrior ($2.77 million)
  • 9. Rise of the Planet of The Apes ($2.62 million)
  • 10. Colombiana ($2.3 million)