Yeah, the buzz on that was deafening. I remember a bit from the MTV Movie Awards in May '08 where RDJ was trying to impress a nerd in his office, and the guy was like "Iron Man was fine...until The Dark Knight releases."
The opening weekend and first Monday threads were some of my favorites at BOM.
The Little Mermaid also became a phenomenon on home video. It sold over 20 million copies on VHS over the next couple of years.
The soundtrack went 4x platinum in the US too. That was absolutely unheard of at the time. It seems small potatoes compared to what Aladdin and The Lion King would sell, but this movie broke the mold.
The Lion King was never supposed to be the giant phenomenon it became. Katzenberg considered it a primer for Pocahontas, which was supposed to be the next Beauty and the Beast.