THE LION KING

Anemic ticket sales initially led producers to cancel “Is This a Room” and “Dana H.”

Theatre Broadway Returns A television crew interviews the first people in line to buy discounted Broadway show tickets at TKTS, Tuesday, Sept. 14, 2021, in New York's Times Square. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer) (Mary Altaffer)NEW YORK — (AP) — The hit Broadway show "Aladdin" was cancelled Wednesday night when breakthrough COVID-19 cases were reported within the musical's company, a day after the show reopened, a worrying sign for Broadway. "Through our rigorous testing protocols, breakthrough COVID-19 cases have been detected within the company of ‘Aladdin’ at the New Amsterdam Theatre,” the show announced on social media. The pandemic forced Broadway theaters to abruptly close on March 12, 2020, knocking out all shows and scrambling the spring season. Several have restarted, including the so-called big three of “Wicked,” “Hamilton” and “The Lion King.”Copyright 2021 The Associated Press.

APTOPIX Theater Broadway Returns Actress Kristin Chenoweth gives the curtain speech on the stage of "Wicked" at the Gershwin Theatre Tuesday, Sept. 14, 2021, in New York. Taymor, the director and costume-designer of “The Lion King,” congratulated her audience for the courage and enthusiasm to lead the way. Andrew Cuomo picked Sept. 14 for when Broadway could begin welcoming back audiences at full capacity. You get to wear masks tonight.”Before the shows, Miranda, Taymor and "Wicked” composer Stephen Schwartz stressed that Broadway has implemented safety protocols that make cramming strangers into theaters as safe as it can be. And I’m thrilled ‘Hamilton’ was was available on a screen in a time when we couldn’t go to a theater.

Top musicals The Lion King, Hamilton and Wicked returned 18 months after being shut down to block the spread of the coronavirus.

Theatre Broadway Returns Theatre fans take a selfie as they stand in line in line to buy discounted Broadway show tickets at TKTS, Tuesday, Sept. 14, 2021, in New York's Times Square. For the producers of three powerhouse shows — "The Lion King," "Hamilton" and "Wicked" — the answer is Tuesday, when the anchors of modern Broadway's success rev their engines again. “I think we all feel extremely excited,” said “The Lion King” director Julie Taymor. We can feel relaxed about the fact that it works.”“The Lion King,” “Hamilton” and “Wicked” all staked out Tuesday to reopen together in early May after then-New York Gov. On Tuesday, they plan staggered openings — 7 p.m. for “Wicked” at the Gershwin Theatre and 7:30 p.m. for “The Lion King” at the Minskoff Theatre.

Theater-Broadway-Returns FIle - The Minskoff Theatre, home f the musical "The Lion King," appears on May 24, 2021 in New York. Theaters for “The Lion King,” "Hamilton” and “Wicked” all set to reopen on Tuesday. For the producers of three powerhouse shows — “The Lion King,” "Hamilton" and “Wicked” — the answer is Tuesday, when the spiritual anchors of modern Broadway's success rev their engines again. “The Lion King,” "Hamilton” and “Wicked” all staked out Tuesday to reopen together in early May after then-New York Gov. “I think it actually won’t feel real to me until we have an audience in front of us,” said L. Steven Taylor, who stars in “The Lion King” as Mufasa.

As Broadway reopens this fall, proof of full vaccination are required for entry and masks are mandated while moving through the theater. For the producers of three powerhouse shows — “The Lion King,” "Hamilton" and “Wicked” — the answer is Tuesday, when the spiritual anchors of modern Broadway's success rev their engines again. “The Lion King,” "Hamilton” and “Wicked” all staked out Tuesday to reopen together in early May after then-New York Gov. “I think it actually won’t feel real to me until we have an audience in front of us,” said L. Steven Taylor, who stars in “The Lion King” as Mufasa. On Tuesday, they plan staggered openings — 7 p.m. for “Wicked” at the Gershwin Theatre and 7:30 p.m. for “The Lion King” at the Minskoff Theatre.

Kristin Chenoweth, Julie Taymor and Lin-Manuel Miranda welcomed back boisterous audiences to “Wicked,” “The Lion King” and “Hamilton” for the first time since the start of the pandemic, marking Tuesday as the unofficial return of Broadway.

Orin Wolf, of the Tony-winning “The Band’s Visit,” takes over from Rudin, who stepped aside amid allegations of abuse.

As requested by the birthday girl, the cake depicts the scene where Mufasa dies.

The show will go on starting September 14.

"Hamilton," "Wicked" and "The Lion King," three of Broadway's cornerstones, are set to reopen on Sept. 14. Tickets are now on sale.

Disney’s Animal Kingdom will welcome “A Celebration of Festival of the Lion King” beginning May 15.

Disney’s Animal Kingdom will welcome back “A Celebration of Festival of the Lion King” beginning next month.

RunDisney honors ‘The Lion King’ with new virtual series.

Billie Eilish arrives at the 63rd annual Grammy Awards at the Los Angeles Convention Center on Sunday, March 14, 2021. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)NEW YORK – The Latest on the Grammy Awards (all times local):8:45 p.m.Billie Eillish has won the Grammy Award for record of the year for the second straight year. Beyoncé broke the record with her victory Sunday night for best R&B performance for “Black Parade,” surpassing the 27 Grammys won by Alison Krauss. DaBaby says he “feels like it’s going to touch everybody.”Ad— Marcela Isaza at the Grammy Awards (@misaza)___3:15 p.m.Brandi Carlile is excited to perform at Sunday’s Grammy Awards, even if there isn’t an audience. “Jojo Rabbit” and the “Joker” soundtrack also won Grammys in the segment of the show that awarded music created for visual media.

ORLANDO, Fla. – The Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts is bringing Disney Broadway to its popular Frontyard Festival later this month. AdAll four performers have been to Central Florida before while performing at Walt Disney World’s Epcot International Festival of the Arts. The Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts began hosting the socially distanced Front Yard Festival in December 2020 to support the entertainment industry in Central Florida. The event features 380 metal pods spread out in the front yard of the Dr. Phillips Center. AdCurrently, the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts has several shows planned for the festival through May.

NEW YORK – The Walt Disney Co. will make a follow-up to the 2019 live-action “The Lion King,” with Barry Jenkins, the director of the Oscar-winning “Moonlight” and the James Baldwin adaptation “If Beale Street Could Talk,” set to direct. The new “Lion King” grossed more than $1.6 billion worldwide, so a sequel was perhaps always likely. Less expected was a “Lion King” with Jenkins directing. The film, Disney said, will explore the mythology of “The Lion King,” including Mufasa's origin story. Disney didn't announce any further plot details or casting on the new “Lion King” project, which was first reported by Deadline Hollywood.

A still from Disney's "The Lion King" featuring Nala (Beyonce Knowles) and Simba (Donald Glover). Disney has tapped Academy Award-winner Barry Jenkins to direct a sequel to "The Lion King." "The Lion King" remake garnered more than $1.5 billion in sales at the global box office in 2019. While "The Lion King" had box office success, the film was highly criticized by reviewers and audiences. "The Lion King" strayed too far into the "uncanny valley" for some critics.

Sign up for our weekly Headlines newsletter. Do you openly despise Broadway musicals, especially the ones that are popular and profitable, yet still have an obsessive knowledge of their creators and songs? Then you and perhaps only you are the target audience for. Perhaps the best thing aboutis that, at just over 70 minutes long with no intermission, it could easily be pared down to an hour and turned into a Fringe Festival production. Outside of off-off-Broadway, thats probably the best home for this amusing but shallow show, where it could find the cynical choir it wants to preach to.

On Monday, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association revealed that Disney was nominated for three of the five slots it had allotted for the best animated feature category. "Toy Story 4," "Frozen II" and "The Lion King" are in the running for the prize against "Missing Link" and "How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World." There's only one hitch Disney does not consider "The Lion King" film to be an animated feature. I also don't think 'Lion King' is live-action. And Stone isn't the only one questioning where "The Lion King" fits.

Elton John has seen Disney's remake of "The Lion King," and now he's calling the film a "huge disappointment." Over the summer, the new film surpassed "Frozen" as the highest-grossing animated film of all time, earning over $1.6 billion globally. "The new version of 'The Lion King' was a huge disappointment to me, because I believe they messed the music up," he recently told British GQ while promoting his new autobiography, "Me." Both the new "Lion King" soundtrack and Beyonc's "The Lion King: The Gift" struggled commercially. "I'm so happy that the right spirit for the music lives on with the 'Lion King' stage musical," John said.

Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, attend "The Lion King" European Premiere at Leicester Square on July 14, 2019, in London. CAPE TOWN, South Africa - In a few short hours, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex will land in South Africa, the first stop on a jam-packed 10-day royal tour. Waiting for ArchieOnly a few images have been shared of baby Archie so far, but we are expecting him to appear at his first official engagement while in South Africa. We still don't know how much of Meghan we will see in South Africa while Prince Harry travels on to Botswana, Angola and Malawi. The unexpectedThere's only so much you can expect from a royal tour though, because the biggest moments are often the unexpected ones.

Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, attend "The Lion King" European Premiere at Leicester Square on July 14, 2019, in London. (CNN) - Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, has wished her husband Prince Harry a happy 35th birthday with a message on Instagram, sharing a new photo of baby Archie. "Your service to the causes you care so deeply for inspires me every day. Happiest birthday!," the message, posted on the Sussex Royal account, reads. The birthday post is accompanied by a collection of photos of Prince Harry throughout his life, starting as a baby in his mother Princess Diana's arms and ending with a previously unseen photo of him with baby Archie and wife Meghan.

A new look at Lennon & Ono creating "Imagine," "The Lion King" breaks a billion, and Blue Ivy Carter hits the charts!

(CNN) - "The Lion King" is the latest Disney film to cross the $1 billion at the global box office. The Walt Disney Studio announced that the photo-realistic remake of the 1994 animated classic will hit $1 billion dollar at the worldwide box office on Tuesday, the 19th day of its release. Three other Disney productions have made $1 billion at the global box office this year: "Avengers: Endgame," "Captain Marvel" and Disney's live action remake of "Aladdin." This makes "The Lion King" Disney's fourth billion-dollar film of 2019, but it likely won't be the last. The last time Disney had four films cross the billion-dollar mark in one year was in 2016.

Still from Disney's remake of "The Lion King" featuring Mufasa and a young Simba on Pride Rock. "The Lion King" is set to surpass the $1 billion mark today, its 19th day in theaters, making it the fourth Disney movie to do so this year. The remake of the classic 1994 animated feature had earned $360.9 million at the domestic box office and $638.5 million internationally. Ahead of its release, critics had mixed feelings about Disney's reimagining of the beloved animated classic. The consensus was that while the animation itself was breathtaking it made the musical numbers boring.

The visually lush film earned $543.6 million in its first 10 days and is expected to pass the $1 billion mark in August. On Friday, the film crossed the $1 billion mark at the global box office. Since "Alice," Disney has a number of other remakes including: "Maleficent," "Cinderella," "The Jungle Book," "Beauty and the Beast," "Alice Through the Looking Glass," and "Dumbo." Including the first week of "Lion King's" box office run, Disney has made more than $7 billion in the last nine years from its reimaginings of its classic tales. These remakes, released in the last decade, have far exceeded the box office success of their predecessors.

(CNN) - Disney's "The Lion King" blew past industry expectations with a huge box office opening this weekend. The film is the 9th highest-grossing opening ever, the biggest opening for the month of July and for a PG-rated film. The company has dominated the 2019 box office and now owns five of the top ten highest-grossing films of the year. "The Lion King" gave a much needed boost to the domestic box office, which has been struggling so far this year. Because of "The Lion King," this weekend's box office totals were up roughly 51% compared to the same weekend last year, according to Comscore.

Following a record-breaking opening weekend for "The Lion King," CNBC's Jim Cramer said Disney's stock is an insurance play for investors. "Disney is just an annuity stream," Cramer said Monday on "Squawk on the Street." Disney's stock has been on a tear this year, climbing nearly 30%, on the back of the company announcing a new streaming service, Disney+, and releasing several recording-breaking films. "There was not, that I saw, a good review of 'Lion King' and it just didn't matter." "If Disney+, if ESPN+, if any one of those shows good news, Disney's stock can continue to go up," Cramer said.

Still from Disney's remake of "The Lion King" featuring Mufasa and a young Simba on Pride Rock. Over the weekend Disney proved, once again, that it is the king of the box office. "The Lion King," the company's latest remake of one of its animated classics, hauled in an estimated $185 million in the U.S., the highest opening in July ever. The film earned an additional $269 million internationally, bringing its total tally to $531 million globally. The box office performance is stellar for a film that went into it's opening weekend with a Rotten Tomatoes score of 55% from 260 reviews.

"We really did know we had something special with ("The Lion King") given its popularity with fans of all ages." Industry experts had pegged "The Lion King" for a $150 million opening, which turned out to be far too modest a projection. And, having opened in China a week early, "The Lion King" has amassed over $531 million in just 10 days. And then there is "Avengers: Endgame," which didn't make the top 10, but that hardly matters. "The Lion King," $185 million ($269.4 million international).

"We really did know we had something special with ("The Lion King") given its popularity with fans of all ages." Industry experts had pegged "The Lion King" for a $150 million opening, which turned out to be far too modest a projection. And, having opened in China a week early, "The Lion King" has amassed over $531 million in just 10 days. And then there is "Avengers: Endgame," which didn't make the top 10, but that hardly matters. "The Lion King," $185 million.

HOLLYWOOD, Calif. - Twenty-five years after the release of the original classic, The Lion King, is getting a live-action remake from Disney. To accompany the release of the 3D animated version of the movie, Grammy award-winning artist, Beyonc, has released a 14 track album titled 'The Lion King: The Gift'. Beyonce, who is also in the Lion King cast, has four solo songs on the album alongside collaborations with Kendrick Lamar, Childish Gambino, and her daughter, Blu Ivy. Africans on social media are sharing positive reactions to the tracklist on the Lion King album. In 2018, The Black Panther soundtrack featured top South African artists like Babes Wodumo and Sjava, and the album was credited with putting a global spotlight on the South African music genre.

(CNN) - The US box office is struggling, but you wouldn't know it if you only looked at Disney's coffers. And this weekend, the windfall from the photorealistic reboot of "The Lion King" is going help Disney secure its perch at the top of the US box office. Analysts are expecting it to make around $150 million in the North American box office by Sunday. The domestic box office is down roughly 9% compared to this time last year. Much is riding on "The Lion King" to rule.

Let us just start out by saying nothing can ever replace the original version of "The Lion King." The soundtrack to Disney's #TheLionKing is here with new songs by @Beyonce, @eltonofficial, @SirTimRice and score composed by @HansZimmer. See The Lion King when it roars into theatres on July 19th. Pharrell Williams produced many of the songs, including Can You Feel the Love Tonight?, I Just Cant Wait to Be King, Hakuna Matata, The Lion Sleeps Tonight" and Mbube.The music also incorporates sections from "The Lion King" on Broadway with He Lives in You. This song also appeared in "The Lion King II: Simba's Pride" in 1998. "Circle of Life""I Just Can't Wait to Be King""Mbube""Hakuna Matata""Be Prepared""The Lion Sleeps Tonight""Can You Feel the Love Tonight""Spirit""Never Too Late""He Lives In You"Graham Media Group 2019

"The Lion King" is a "critic proof" movie, analysts have told CNBC. Starting last week, reviews have been streaming in for "Lion King," which is due in theaters on July 19. Over the weekend, "Lion King" earned $54.7 million in China, higher than the openings of "The Jungle Book," "Beauty and the Beast" and "Aladdin." On Friday, alone, the film hauled in $13.4 million in the country, more than the $13.2 million three-day debut of "Toy Story 4 last month. As early as April, industry experts were predicting that "The Lion King" could be the highest grossing film of the year.

Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, greet Disney CEO Robert Iger and US singer-songwriter Beyonc at the European premiere of Disney's "The Lion King" at Odeon Luxe Leicester Square on July 14, 2019 in London, England. Two royal couples showed up at "The Lion King" premiere on Sunday. Prince Harry and Duchess Meghan attended the European premiere of the movie in London. Shortly after, pop royalty -- Beyonc and Jay-Z -- arrived. Meghan hugged both Beyonc and Jay-Z, and Beyonc congratulated the royals on the birth of their baby Archie, according to The Daily Mail's Rebecca English.

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ORLANDO, Fla. – An arbitrator has ordered Walt Disney World to reinstate three performers who were dismissed when they refused to wear soiled spandex unitards as part of their costumes for "The Lion King" show. The arbitrator ruled Monday that Disney violated language in a collective bargaining agreement guaranteeing that all costumes be clean and dry before performers use them. Disney said the workers carried out an unauthorized work stoppage when they refused to put on the wet unitards last June, forcing the cancellation of a show. The workers said their clean unitards became wet and sullied while hanging from a rack where sweaty costumes were pushed up against them. The clean-costume provision was added to the agreement more than a decade ago after incidents of rashes, scabies and other infections.