Disney’s latest live-action adaptation Beauty and the Beast is off to a stellar start at the global box office, pulling in $350 million around the world and setting itself up for a potential $1 billion plus haul.
The film has broken records on both sides of the Atlantic; domestically, it grossed $174 million across the weekend, the biggest March and pre-summer debut of all time, and the seventh biggest ever behind Iron Man 3 on $174.1 million. Here in the UK it pulled in £18.4 million for the best ever PG opening on these shores, and in both the UK and China ($44.8 million) it scored the biggest ever Disney Live Action (non-Marvel and Star Wars) opening weekends.
“This goes beyond our wildest expectations and it’s so satisfying to see the audience response,” said Disney’s distribution chief Dave Hollis. “On Twitter fans are saying that they cried multiple times. There’s a hopeful sense of repeat business for the rest of the pic’s run. Audiences responded to the film in ways you don’t often see. You have an extraordinary world here created by VFX which is only possible because it fully leverages every piece of technology, and then you round that off with the iconic music of Alan Menken as the thru-line from old to new, even introducing new songs. You take that nostalgia, the music, the cast, the VFX and the brand sitting on it, and you have a recipe for massive success.”
SEE ALSO: Read our reviews of Beauty and the Beast here, here and here
Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast” is a live-action re-telling of the studio’s animated classic which refashions the classic characters from the tale as old as time for a contemporary audience, staying true to the original music while updating the score with several new songs. “Beauty and the Beast” is the fantastic journey of Belle, a bright, beautiful and independent young woman who is taken prisoner by a beast in his castle. Despite her fears, she befriends the castle’s enchanted staff and learns to look beyond the Beast’s hideous exterior and realize the kind heart and soul of the true Prince within.
Beauty and the Beast is directed by Bill Condon and sees Emma Watson as Belle alongside Dan Stevens as Beast, while the cast also includes Ewan McGregor as Lumiere, Emma Thompson as Mrs. Potts, Luke Evans as Gaston, Gugu Mbatha-Raw as Plumette, Stanley Tucci as Cadenza, Ian McKellen as Cogsworth, Kevin Kline as Maurice, Josh Gad as Le Fou and Audra McDonald as Garderobe.
