The Lion King has been crowned the king of the Broadway box office.

With a total of $853.8 million since its opening on Broadway in 1997, the Disney musical beat out the previous champ, Phantom of the Opera, which has earned $85.1 million since its 1988 opening. It could be due to the higher ticket prices The Lion King had compared to Phantom.  Either way — after all the bad press she got with Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark — it’s great news for Julie Taymor, who directed The Lion King.