Box-Office Milestone: ‘Beauty and the Beast’ Waltzing Past $1B Globally

Disney’s Beauty and the Beast is joining the billion-dollar club at the worldwide box office.

Director Bill Condon’s update of the classic 1991 animated film will achieve the milestone sometime on Wednesday or Thursday. (The entry of Fate of the Furious in a handful of foreign markets on Wednesday is clouding the forecast.)

On Tuesday, Beauty, starring Emma Watson as Belle, grossed $9.7 million for a worldwide total of $993.2 million. The tentpole has earned $435.9 million domestically and $557.3 million overseas, led by China ($85.2 million) and the U.K. ($75.3 million).

Disney has plenty of reason to celebrate. Beauty and the Beast is the second of its live-action updates to cross $1 billion after Alice in Wonderland. Moreover, Disney will lay claim to 14 of the 29 movies to earn $1 billion or more.

The studio’s Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, released in December 2016, was the last film to join the billion-dollar club, giving Disney four titles last year to accomplish that feat. The others were Captain America: Civil War, Finding Dory and Zootopia.

Dan Stevens, Luke Evans, Kevin Kline, Josh Gad, Emma Thompson, Ewan McGregor, Stanley Tucci, Audra McDonald, Gugu Mbatha-Raw and Ian McKellen star.

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