It’s well on its way to becoming the fastest-selling family film in history – outpacing both Captain America: Civil War and Avengers: Age of Ultron at the same point in their respective sales cycle – and now, the latest box office estimates suggest Disney’s Beauty and the Beast is on course for a huge $200 million opening weekend.
Citing brand equity, Variety is reporting that Bill Condon’s lavish live-action remake is expected to rake in around $120-140 million domestically which, coupled with an overseas haul of $80-110 million, brings the estimated total to around $200 million. It’s a staggering sum, and if nothing else, these findings suggest that The Jungle Book‘s eye-watering $966 million total isn’t so far out of reach after all. Will Beauty and the Beast be the one to pip Jon Favreau’s adventure at the post? Even if Condon’s starry redo falls short, the fantasy yarn is still set to become one of 2017’s biggest movies, after a Fandango survey ranked Beauty and the Beast as the year’s third most-anticipated film, behind only Star Wars: The Last Jedi and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2.
Indeed, in a last-ditch attempt to stoke excitement, the Mouse House has now pumped out what is surely one of the final promos for Beauty and the Beast (see above), in which we see Belle (Emma Watson) and the Beast (Dan Stevens) putting their vocal chords to the test to sing “Something There.”
It’s a tale as old as time, and theaters across the globe are expected to roll out the red carpet for Beauty and the Beast this Friday, March 17th. Our own Matt Donato caught an early screening of Bill Condon’s live-action remake and left with mixed feelings, writing that Condon’s vision “lacks some of the astonishing visual prowess of previous Disney live-action remakes, but still sings and dances with enjoyable style.”
