The Lion King passes Frozen as the highest grossing animated movie of all time... but Disney still isn't calling it an animated movie
Disney's photo-realistic animated adaptation of The Lion King has surpassed another box office milestone, becoming the highest-grossing animated film of all time.
The Lion King earned another $20.2 million at the domestic box office in its fourth frame in theaters, bringing its domestic total to $473.3 million and its worldwide total to $1.337 billion.
That total surpasses Disney's 2012 blockbuster Frozen ($1.276 billion) as the highest-grossing animated film ever, but the studio doesn't even consider it an animated film.
![Highest grossing: Disney's photo-realistic animated adaptation of The Lion King has surpassed another box office milestone, becoming the highest-grossing animated film of all time](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2019/08/13/04/17211088-0-image-a-2_1565667835278.jpg)
Highest grossing: Disney's photo-realistic animated adaptation of The Lion King has surpassed another box office milestone, becoming the highest-grossing animated film of all time
Box office analysts Exhibitor Relations tweeted on Sunday that Disney viewed The Lion King's total as passing a much different record.
'Disney stated that The Lion King ($1.335B) passed Beauty and the Beast ($1.264B) to become "the highest grossing Disney live action release of all-time,"' ERC's senior media analyst Jeff Bock said.
'Um. So this was live-action? Semantics aside, that's an incredible feat,' Bock added.
![Semantics: Box office analysts Exhibitor Relations tweeted on Sunday that Disney viewed The Lion King's total as passing a much different record](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2019/08/13/04/17210966-0-image-a-3_1565667839206.jpg)
Semantics: Box office analysts Exhibitor Relations tweeted on Sunday that Disney viewed The Lion King's total as passing a much different record
The debate over whether The Lion King is live-action or animated has been going on for months, and it seems Disney is still refusing to say it's an animated movie.
This could make things interesting when it comes time for awards season, to see if Disney will continue insisting it's not an animated film, and not put it in contention for animated film awards.
An argument can be made for calling The Lion King an animated film, since every single frame of the film is comprised of computer generated footage (except for one shot, according to director Jon Favreau).
![Debate: The debate over whether The Lion King is live-action or animated has been going on for months, and it seems Disney is still refusing to say it's an animated movie](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2019/08/13/04/17211084-0-image-a-4_1565667863987.jpg)
Debate: The debate over whether The Lion King is live-action or animated has been going on for months, and it seems Disney is still refusing to say it's an animated movie
But then again, it uses photo-realistic techniques that are far more advanced than traditional animation.
Favreau himself even added some fuel to the fire, by saying his film is 'neither' animation nor live-action, in an interview with Slash Film.
'Well, it’s difficult because it’s neither, really. It depends what standard you’re using,' Favreau said.
![Not animated: Favreau himself even added some fuel to the fire, by saying his film is 'neither' animation nor live-action, in an interview with Slash Film](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2019/08/13/04/17211086-0-image-a-5_1565668021459.jpg)
Not animated: Favreau himself even added some fuel to the fire, by saying his film is 'neither' animation nor live-action, in an interview with Slash Film
'Because there’s no real animals and there’s no real cameras and there’s not even any performance that’s being captured that’s underlying data that’s real,' he added.
He also said that calling The Lion King an animated movie is 'misleading as far as what the expectations might be.'
Animated or not, The Lion King is currently the second highest grossing film of 2019 at both the domestic ($473.3 million) and global ($1.337 billion) box office.
The Lion King comes in a distant second behind Disney and Marvel's Avengers: Endgame ($857.9 million domestic, $2.795 billion worldwide), which recently surpassed Avatar ($2.789 billion) as the highest grossing film of all time worldwide.
![No real animals: 'Because there¿s no real animals and there¿s no real cameras and there¿s not even any performance that¿s being captured that¿s underlying data that¿s real,' he added](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2019/08/13/04/17211082-7351187-image-a-6_1565668419228.jpg)
No real animals: 'Because there’s no real animals and there’s no real cameras and there’s not even any performance that’s being captured that’s underlying data that’s real,' he added
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