'Lion King' Dominates, But 'Hollywood' A High Mark For Tarantino

(WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- Disney's "The Lion King" ruled the box office for a second straight weekend, but the debut of Quentin Tarantino's "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood" marked the highest opening yet for its director.

The live-action/CGI remake of "The Lion King" took in $75.5 million over the weekend, taking its domestic gross to $350 million. The Disney film is poised to hit the $1 billion mark, when factoring in its foreign sales.

Meantime, the widely released "Hollywood" -- a nearly three-hour, darkly humorous tale about Tinseltown in 1969 -- raked in $40.4 million. That is the largest opening for a Tarantino film, according to Box Office Mojo, which tracks the grosses of movie releases at theaters.

"Once Upon a Time in Hollywood" pairs two of the industry's biggest film stars, Brad Pitt and Leonardo DiCaprio, along with Margot Robbie, who plays real-life actress Sharon Tate. Tate was among a group of people murdered by the Manson Family, which figures into the intersecting  plots of the Tarantino film.