&lt;div class=&quot;track&quot;&gt;&lt;img alt=&quot;&quot; src=&quot;http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.22.2/94276?ns=guardian&amp;pageName=The+Lion+King+3D+rules+the+US+charts%2C+with+Drive+in+hot+pursuit%3AArticle%3A1635215&amp;ch=Film&amp;c3=GU.co.uk&amp;c4=Film%2C3D+%28technology%29%2CAnimation+%28Film+genre%29%2CFilm+industry+%28business%29%2CRyan+Gosling%2CBrad+Pitt+%28Film%29%2CTilda+Swinton+%28Film%29%2CGeorge+Clooney+%28Film%29&amp;c5=Unclassified%2CFilm+Awards%2CNot+commercially+useful%2CTechnology+Gadgets%2CFilm+Reviews&amp;c6=Jeremy+Kay&amp;c7=11-Sep-19&amp;c8=1635215&amp;c9=Article&amp;c10=Blogpost&amp;c11=Film&amp;c13=Hollywood+report+%28series%29%2CBox+office+analysis%3A+US&amp;c25=Film+blog&amp;c30=content&amp;h2=GU%2FFilm%2F3D&quot; width=&quot;1&quot; height=&quot;1&quot; /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;p class=&quot;standfirst&quot;&gt;Disney milks its cash cow animation sensation with a retrofit 3D release, but who are the contenders for the award season?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Disney&#039;s reformatted Lion King release is a canny piece of marketing, albeit one that speaks to the lack of inventiveness that is rife in contemporary Hollywood. The original became an animation sensation when it opened in 1994, going on to gross more than $825m (&pound;525m) around the globe (equivalent to roughly $1.2bn today, considering inflation), spewing box office records for hand-drawn animation and spawning a Broadway spin-off three years later.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Now comes the inevitable retrofitted 3D version, an attraction that large numbers of viewers deemed sufficiently compelling to send the old warhorse back to the top of the North American charts with a respectable sum. Disney wanted to introduce the property to a new generation of young fans and 3D serves as a legitimate excuse to do so.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;I&#039;m not convinced 3D will stick around. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/apr/11/3d-avatar-hollywood&quot; title=&quot;&quot;&gt;Mark Kermode has written convincingly&lt;/a&gt; on this site that the studios have used it to revive interest in the theatrical experience at times when the traditional mode of seeing movies has been under threat. I&#039;m inclined to agree. First it was the advent of the television, then the video age and now the studios fear video on demand and video games.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;What is the inherent point of turning a delightful and superbly executed example of 2D animation into 3D &ndash; apart from making more money? If there were an original 3D animation title on release now it would knock The Lion King off its perch without much trouble. As there is no rival movie, Disney can crow about another number one launch and make extra cash off the property that keeps on giving. It has been a canny move, but it is also cynical and exploitative in a lazy way.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Good to see &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/movie/142036/drive&quot; title=&quot;&quot;&gt;Drive&lt;/a&gt; open in the top five. The violent crime drama with a killer score and soundtrack comes from Dane Nicolas Winding Refn, who earned the best director prize for it in Cannes. It stars Ryan Gosling as a quietly barmy stunt driver who moonlights as a getaway driver by night &ndash; someone you definitely don&#039;t want to mess with. I hope it sticks around for a while, and will finally turn Gosling into a household name.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Drive screened at the Toronto international film festival, which ended on Sunday and shed a little light on some of the potential awards season contenders. Alexander Payne&#039;s &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/movie/142799/descendants&quot; title=&quot;&quot;&gt;The Descendants&lt;/a&gt;, starring George Clooney, is sweet and well observed and already seems to be emerging as a critical favourite. Michael Fassbender&#039;s committed performance as a lonely sex addict in &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/movie/142860/shame&quot; title=&quot;&quot;&gt;Shame&lt;/a&gt;, which won him a best actor prize at the Venice film festival, is an early runner alongside Jean Dujardin in the silent movie homage &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/movie/142801/artist&quot; title=&quot;&quot;&gt;The Artist&lt;/a&gt;. It&#039;s hard to say what the feeling is on &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/movie/142852/moneyball&quot; title=&quot;&quot;&gt;Moneyball&lt;/a&gt;, starring Brad Pitt. My sense is Americans have found it engaging while British critics are less patient with the story elements (basketball, statistics, real events).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Glenn Close did herself no harm playing a woman who disguises herself as a man in the period drama &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/movie/142804/albert-nobbs&quot; title=&quot;&quot;&gt;Albert Nobbs&lt;/a&gt;, while Tilda Swinton has rightly won admirers for taking the lead in &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/movie/141828/we-need-to-talk-about-kevin&quot; title=&quot;&quot;&gt;We Need to Talk About Kevin&lt;/a&gt;. There are plenty more, as-yet-unseen contenders to come and, as always, it will be fascinating if a little disturbing to watch Hollywood&#039;s shock-and-awe publicity machine spring into action.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;North American top 10, 16-18 September 2011&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;1.&lt;/strong&gt; The Lion King 3D $29.3m&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;2.&lt;/strong&gt; Contagion, $14.5m. Total: $44.2m&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;3.&lt;/strong&gt; Drive, $11m&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;4. &lt;/strong&gt;The Help, $6.4m. Total: $147.4m&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;5.&lt;/strong&gt; Straw Dogs, $5m&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;6.&lt;/strong&gt; I Don&#039;t Know How She Does It, $4.5m&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;7.&lt;/strong&gt; The Debt, $2.9m. Total: $26.5m&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;8.&lt;/strong&gt; Warrior, $2.8m. Total: $9.9m&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;9.&lt;/strong&gt; Rise of the Planet of the Apes, $2.6m. Total: $171.6m&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;10.&lt;/strong&gt; Colombiana, $2.3m. Total: $33.3m&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;related&quot; style=&quot;float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;&quot;&gt;&lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/3d&quot;&gt;3D&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/animation&quot;&gt;Animation&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/film-industry&quot;&gt;Film industry&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/ryan-gosling&quot;&gt;Ryan Gosling&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/bradpitt&quot;&gt;Brad Pitt&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/tilda-swinton&quot;&gt;Tilda Swinton&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/georgeclooney&quot;&gt;George Clooney&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;author&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/jeremykay&quot;&gt;Jeremy Kay&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;terms&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.guardian.co.uk&quot;&gt;guardian.co.uk&lt;/a&gt; &amp;copy; 2011 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. 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