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For the third time in a row, Disney’s Mufasa: The Lion King and Paramount’s Sonic the Hedgehog 3 are about to tussle for the top spot at the domestic box office. Sonic 3 won the first round. Mufasa won round two, which unfolded over the extended Christmas period. The big-budget Disney film did, however, stay in second place over the traditional three-day frame, which is what goes on the official record. Mufasa is set to claim the top spot in the first weekend of 2025, as it heads towards a $23 million haul, as compared to Sonic 3’s $20 million projected three-day gross. Both films are nearing the $200 mark domestically.
Mufasa grossed around $7.6 million on Friday, passing the $150 million mark domestically. The movie will likely pass the $165 million mark by Sunday. Directed by the Oscar-winning Barry Jenkins, Mufasa serves as both a prequel and a sequel to Jon Favreau’s 2019 remake of The Lion King, which grossed over $1.6 billion worldwide. With mixed reviews — the movie holds a 55% “rotten” approval rating on the aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes — Mufasa is set to pass the $400 million mark worldwide, having drastically under-performed in its first weekend. It did, however, stage something of a comeback in the subsequent weeks, but there’s no way that the $200 million tent pole catches up to its predecessor.
Sonic 3, on the other hand, will pass the $185 million milestone by Sunday. A day or two into next week, it’ll overtake its immediate predecessor to become the highest-grossing installment of the franchise. The Sonic movies have now generated over $1 billion worldwide, with the positively-reviewed Sonic 3 — the movie holds a franchise-best 88% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes — set to pass the $300 million milestone globally.
Despite No New Releases, the First Weekend of 2025 Out-Performed the Same Frame Last Year
The third position will be claimed by director Robert Eggers’ Nosferatu, which is expected to gross over $12 million in its second weekend, registering a minor (especially for a horror movie) drop of under 45%. Having passed the $60 million mark already, the movie will likely pass the $65 million mark domestically by Sunday. Nosferatu is already among the top five highest-grossing horror movies of 2024, and is poised to eventually pass the $100 million mark domestically by the end of its run.
The fourth and fifth spots went to the holdover hits Moana 2 and Wicked, both of which have already passed the $400 million mark domestically. With $4.1 million on Friday, the animated sequel is projected to gross a little less than Nosferatu, and will possibly touch the $425 million milestone by Sunday. Moana 2 is also set to pass Despicable Me 4 worldwide, and then become the third film of 2024 to enter the exclusive $1 billion club, after Inside Out 2 and Deadpool & Wolverine. Meanwhile, Wicked is eyeing another $9 million-plus this weekend after generating $3.3 million on Friday, which should take its running domestic total to $450 million. The movie was recently launched on PVOD, but that doesn’t seem to have affected its run. Elsewhere, A Complete Unknown finished just outside the top five with $2.6 million on Friday, and will pass the $40 million milestone this weekend to become Searchlight’s top-grossing release post the Disney merger. Stay tuned to Collider for more updates.
Simba, having become king of the Pride Lands, is determined for his cub to follow in his paw prints while the origins of his late father Mufasa are explored.
- Director
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Barry Jenkins
- Runtime
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118 Minutes
