Film & TV NewsFilmed The King and I Adds Encore Screenings After Breaking Box Office RecordsThe filming of the West End run captures Kelli O'Hara and Ruthie Ann Miles' Tony-winning performances.
By
Logan Culwell-Block
November 30, 2018
The filmed presentation of the West End revival of The King and I has become the highest selling theatrical cinema event of 2018 after the worldwide premiere screening November 29. According to the film's distributor Trafalagar Releasing, the film is expected to take $2.5 million at the box office, with an estimated attendance of more than 135,000. The one-day screening was also the highest-grossing film of the day in the UK, more than doubling the receipts of runner-up Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald.
Due to the success of the first screening, Trafalager has scheduled encore showings worldwide throughout December. To find a screening near you, visit KingandIMusicalCinema.com.
The filming preserves the London run of Lincoln Center Theater's 2015 Tony Award-winning production, directed by Bartlett Sher and featuring choreography by Christopher Gattelli. Kelli O'Hara and Ruthie Ann Miles recreate their Tony-winning Broadway performances as Anna Leonowens and Lady Thiang, respectively, with Ken Watanabe reprising his Tony-nominated King of Siam. The West End run played London's Palladium beginning in June 2018, breaking box office records and delivering the highest-grossing week in the Palladium's history.
Written by the legendary golden age Broadway team of composer Richard Rodgers and book writer-lyricist Oscar Hammerstein II, The King and I is set in 1860s Bangkok, centering on the temperamental relationship between the King of Siam and a British schoolteacher who has been brought in to teach his wives and children. The classic score includes such favorites as "Whistle a Happy Tune," "Getting to Know You," and "Shall We Dance."
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