Weekend Estimates: Lion King Just Holds Off Moneyball and Dolphin Tale

September 25, 2011

In a surprisingly strong weekend for September, The Lion King will enjoy a second weekend at the top of the chart, although only by a narrow margin over new entries Moneyball and Dolphin Tale. Disney's animated classic will take in about $22 million this weekend, and now looks set to pass $400 million in lifetime domestic box office before its theatrical run is over, and it has a shot at topping Spider-Man to take a place in the all-time top 10.

Moneyball and Dolphin Tale have both been enthusiastically greeted by critics and moviegoers, and will pick up around $20 million for the weekend. Abduction and Killer Elite are both looking less stellar, with $11.2 million and $9.5 million projected for the weekend respectively.

Still outside the top 10, but continuing to do great business is Kevin Hart: Laugh at My Pain with a projected $1.2 million.

In limited release, Machine Gun Preacher made a solid start with $44,000 in 4 theaters. While that clears the key $10,000 per theater hurdle, it is hardly stratospheric, which suggests it might not have an easy time expanding significantly. Generally poor reviews won't help it.

Bruce Nash

Filed under: Weekend Estimates, The Lion King, Dolphin Tale, Abduction, Moneyball, Killer Elite, Machine Gun Preacher, Kevin Hart: Laugh at My Pain