$8.8 million makes 'Lion' king of Friday B.O.

Baring its teeth within the first weekend of re-release, Disney's ''The Lion King'' scared away your competitors with $8.8 million in your area Friday evening. The 3 dimensional toon conversion, which started the beginning of a couple-week engagement to tubthump the March. 4 DVD and Blu-ray re-release, could pull in close to $20 million this frame. ''Lion King'' carried out well both each morning and into the evening, suggesting youthful auds are meeting Simba the first time while teen and older auds seeking nostalgia are usually visiting the plexes a couple of days ago, an undeniable fact that bodes well for your Mouse. Pic has collected $10.8 million from mostly The the spanish language language-speaking areas, and although all 2,330 locations are playing the film in 3d, Disney shipped a 2D version too, letting exhibs decide when you screen through which format. ''Lion King'' beat back last week's champion, Warner Bros.' ensembler ''Contagion,'' which dropped 42% for just about any Friday take of $4.6 000 0000. Whether or not this keeps this rate, ''Contagion'' should land inside the low- to mid-teens through Sunday, in line with pre-weekend predictions. Third place visited FilmDistrict's ''Drive,'' which opened up as much as about $4 million last evening. Knowing by last year's adult-skewing early fall releases, ''Drive'' should land just north of $hundreds of an incredible number of in 72 hrs, keeping it in third this frame. The feet of the extremely best five will be a equine race between your new the new sony/Screen Gems' ''Straw Dogs,'' which made about $2 million last evening, and Disney holdover ''The Help,'' which made $1.9 million. ''Straw Dogs,'' toplined by youthful adult faves James Marsden, Kate Bosworth and Alexander Skarsgard, may be held back by its R rating. And landing just outdoors last night's tops, Weinstein Co.'s ''I Have No Clue How She Does It'' gross $1.6 000 0000 Friday. Pic is predicted to bow around $6 000 0000 this frame. Contact the number newsroom at news@variety.com