On The Lion King’s killer formula of nostalgia and 3D

devisivethandesisive says: Don’t think that 92% of viewers were interested about 3D. I think they were more interested in the fact that Lion King will be re-released again. After all, it IS one of the most loved Disney movies and one of the most popular.

» SFB says: (We’re responding because this one got a number of similar responses.) Even if that’s the case — which most assuredly, it is — 3D gets people to pay more for tickets and as a result, from a numbers perspective, people likely paid $5 to $7 more for those tickets. Which means that, even if people didn’t really care about the 3D, “The Lion King” would have made significantly less at the box office without it. In fact, we cranked out some math (based on a $6 price difference between 2D and 3D movies, and the fact that 94 percent of film-goers saw the film in 3D this weekend) to prove this point. Check it out:

• $27.1M amount of money “The Lion King” made in 3D theaters this weekend
• $2.3M amount of money the film made in 2D theaters in the same period
• $19.3M amount of money the film would have made without 3D’s extra revenue

While the film would have topped the box office minus the extra sales for 3D, it would have beat “Contagion” by only a few million. But were it a slightly stronger weekend for films, it likely wouldn’t have had such momentum. Movie math is fascinating. — Ernie @ SFB

EDIT: Did some quick double-checking of numbers — we were half-asleep.