If you've been keeping tabs on Beauty and the Beast as it has moved forward in the development process, you may already have an inclination that there is a lot of anticipation surrounding Disney's latest project. The film reportedly had a bunch of $160 million dollars, but reportedly the movie is set to make back that and more during its first weekend in theaters. According to the latest estimates, Beauty and the Beast is set to bring in at least $200 million this weekend alone at the box office.
It should be noted that $200 million is a global estimate and not a domestic estimate; still, a good chunk of that money will come from Beauty and the Beast moviegoers in the U.S. Per Variety, domestically, the remake of the Disney classic is anticipated to bring in at least $120 million with some outlets guessing closer to the $140 range. The film is also opening in a slew of major countries this weekend, including in China, the U.K., Mexico, Brazil, Spain and Russia. The tally of all of those moviegoers is anticipated to bring in $80 to $110 million. If you are any good at math, you may have realized already that if the totals add up higher in the U.S. and elsewhere in the world, $200 million might even be a lowball for what Beauty and the Beast could make. That's a pretty incredible number, even for a family friendly flick.
To put this into perspective compared to other films, there have been a few movies that have made more than $200 million in the U.S. alone during their first weekend at the box office, but they are few and far between and only include Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Jurassic World and The Avengers. Worldwide openings can be way higher and there are a slew of movies that have made more than $200 million worldwide in their opening weekend, and when we say slew we mean there have been 49, with movies like The Dark Knight coming really close and hitting numbers like $199.7 million during the first weekend. When you consider how many movies are made every year, $200 million is a huge number and one that Disney should be pretty pumped about.
Of course, we'll have to wait and see how the estimates pan out. A lot of times box office numbers do end up surprising forecasters with larger numbers than what was estimated, but of course there are plenty of movies that do not live up to expectations, even if they do have solid first weekends.
As for Beauty and the Beast, the movie should benefit from being the first big family flick since The Lego Batman Movie hit theaters. It also should benefit from being a retelling of a popular fairytale and classic Disney movie and from the good reviews that have been pushed out ahead of the movie's big premiere. The studio's previous releases in the genre, Maleficent, Cinderella and The Jungle Book have all made major money, with The Jungle Book taking in the highest total box office amount with more than $966 million. The Jungle Book brought in $103 million during its first weekend in the U.S. With that in mind, will Beauty and the Beast be the first in the genre to rake in more than $1 billion? We'll have to wait and see.
For now, there are plenty of options for pre-ordering tickets to see Beauty and the Beast. The movie officially hits theaters on March 17, but if you are more interested in other releases like The Belko Experiment, feel free to peruse over our 2017 movies schedule.
