Are we seeing a real return of the Hollywood musical? First it was La La Land with seven Golden Globes and now Beauty and the Beast, which at its first outing broke some significant records. With $ 170 million at the domestic (US and Canada) box office the live-action rendering of the Golden Globe winner animated feature became the top-grossing domestic opening of all time for a PG-rated film, as well as the best-ever opening of a film with a female main character (Emma Watson as Belle). The international haul of the $160 million budgeted film was $ 350 million. Even in Russia where the picture was slapped with a 16+ rating – because of the one tentatively gay character – Beauty made a decent $ 6 million -which would be much higher not for the dramatic drop in half of the exchange rate of the Russian ruble against the dollar.
Courtesy HFPA
