If there is one company out there that knows how to capitalize on a good thing, it’s definitely Disney. Now that Lion King 3D has made just under $80 million, and the film itself has made nearly $500 million combining it with the original release from 1994, the studio is ready for lightning to strike twice.

It looks like the films Disney is now looking to bring back range from both their 2D cell animated days to the days of Pixar. The plan is to release one older film and one more recent film a year, bringing us to the end of 2013.

Next to hit theaters is a 3D release of Beauty and the Beast on January 31 of next year, to be followed by Finding Nemo on September 14th, 2012. Then for 2013, you’re looking at Monsters, Inc. on January 18th, and The Little Mermaid on September 13th.

This is surely going to be a cash cow for both Disney and Pixar, and may just be enough to keep them from making big releases like Up or sequels like Toy Story 3 for years, which has been pretty costly in the past.

All we know is that this will give us another chance to enjoy these films with a fresh audience and may even introduce a new generation to these classic films.

*Note: this column was written on Sunday, so four-day totals that include Monday’s receipts will differ from these numbers.

It was no surprise that The Twilight Saga: Eclipse dominated the weekend box office. The film made $69 Million over the weekend.  Add in a record breaking $30M midnight take on Tuesday night,  and Wednesday and Thursday’s totals, and the movie has made $161 Million as of today.

It did fall short of breaking the all-time opening day record set by its  predecessor New Moon, which made $72 Million on its opening day. Eclipse came awfully close, making about $68.5 in the same time frame.  At any rate, Eclipse recouped its budget of $69 Million in one day.

We can expect the film to drop off quite a bit in upcoming weeks, as the series historically has been very front loaded, but this film does seem to be getting good word of mouth, so the drop off might not be as steep.

The Last Airbender did a lot better than I expected it to.  Obviously the built in fan base helped elevate the critically reviled film to an okay opening weekend.  Airbender made $40 Million over the weekend, but since it opened on Thursday, its total is now $56 Million.

That’s still a long way from its $150 Million budget, though, and word of mouth has been brutal, so the movie may fall off considerably after this weekend.  If so, it will be a disaster for Paramount, which has sunk about $280M into the film between the budget and marketing.  It also leaves the future of the franchise, and the career of director M. Night Shyamalan hanging in the balance.

Toy Story 3 is still going strong in its third week in release, making another $30 Million.  This brings its total to $289 Million.  Finding Nemo is Pixar’s highest grossing movie of all time, with $339 Million in ticket sales. It is looking highly likely that Toy Story 3 will exceed that during its theatrical run.

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With Warner’s Jonah Hex hitting theaters in just over a month, fans have been tapping their collective feet waiting for a trailer of the film starring Josh Brolin and Megan Fox. So far, we’ve only gotten a few images of Brolin in make up and Fox in tight dresses, but it seems that we’re finally getting the goods with a new trailer.

The film, based on the DC Comic of the same name about a western vigilante who takes down baddies without mercy, has been the subject of lots of controversy since it’s production started a few years back. Crank directors Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor were allegedly pulled off of the film mid-shoot due to “creative differences” with the studio. Jimmy Hayward, lead animator for many Pixar films such as Monster’s Inc. and Finding Nemo took over and has sole directing credit on the film.

After the controversy, and the fact that we hadn’t seen a trailer for the film yet, it was questionable if Warner would get the film out in time for it’s June release date, but with the new trailer hitting online today, we can now rest assured that they’re back on schedule.

Check out the trailer after the jump, courtesy of Yahoo! Movies, and be sure to catch Brolin and his melted face in Jonah Hex when it hits theaters on June 18th.

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