The impressive recent box office performance of Mufasa: The Lion King sets Disney up for a live-action Lion King sequel in the near future. Directed by Academy Award-winning director Barry Jenkins, Mufasa: The Lion King not only follows the origin story of Mufasa, Simba’s father, but also Scar, Mufasa’s brother who ran astray. Aaron Pierre (Rebel Ridge) leads the cast of Mufasa: The Lion King alongside Kelvin Harrison Jr., Tiffany Boone, Mads Mikkelsen, Seth Rogen, Billy Eichner, and Thandiwe Newton.

While Mufasa: The Lion King didn’t make nearly as much at the worldwide box office as its 2019 predecessor, it was still one of the highest-grossing blockbusters of 2024. 2019’s The Lion King directed by Jon Favreau remains one of the highest-grossing movies of all time with its whopping $1.662 billion box office total. Remarkably, The Lion King wasn’t even the top-performing film of that historic year at the box office (Avengers: Endgame earned $2.8 billion and became the second highest-grossing movie ever made).

Mufasa: The Lion King Has Started To Turn A Profit For Disney After Making Over $500 Million

It’s on a trajectory to pᴀss $600 million worldwide & become 2024’s 7th highest-grossing film

At the time of writing, Mufasa: The Lion King has earned a worldwide total of $542.3 million, putting it in a good position to surpᴀss Kung Fu Panda 4 ($547.7 million) and potentially Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire ($571.8 million). Mufasa had a budget of $200 million and movies typically need 2.5x their budget to break even and move into profitability. That would make $500 million the line to cross for Mufasa to become profitable, which it already has. Its next target is aiming for $600 million in the coming weeks, although it’s unlikely to surpᴀss Wicked’s push to $700 million.

Mufasa’s current box office trajectory indicates that it should turn a profit for Disney just from the theatrical box office. This doesn’t even take into account eventual streaming revenue, merchandise, and other money-making factors that storied franchises like The Lion King benefit from. Even if Mufasa fails to hit $700 million, which is less than half the box office total of The Lion King, its expected box office performance of $600 million or more is still impressive enough to justify Disney making another live-action Lion King film before the end of the 2020s.

Disney Can Now Feel Confident In Making More The Lion King Movies After Mufasa

Mufasa is still a winner despite not being one of the top-performing films of all time

Mufasa’s projected $600 million might not be close to the $1.6 billion earned by 2019’s live-action remake. However, its performance proves that there’s still substantial interest in Disney’s beloved Lion King franchise, enough to warrant making another live-action film at least. Franchise prequels have been a popular choice as franchise expansions but do not necessarily fare as well at the box office as true sequels, as evidenced by the disappointing box office performance of Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga. Considering that The Lion King 2 already has a 1998 animated sequel to base itself on, a live-action adaptation could and should be in the works.