For the last couple of weeks, box office trackers have been monitoring a fascinating race. In late December 2024, Jeff Fowler’s Sonic The Hedgehog 3 and Barry Jenkins’ Mufasa: The Lion King opened simultaneously, and while the former got off to a fast start, the latter is proving the be the proverbial tortoise. The video game adaptation sequel won the first two showdowns at the box office, but the animated prequel is making a comeback, and it finally took hold of its first domestic crown over the last three days.
Without any new releases arriving to disrupt the Top 10, this weekend’s chart features a shuffling of late 2024 releases, with Mufasa: The Lion King now in the number one spot. Check out the full results below and join me after for analysis.
| TITLE | WEEKEND GROSS | DOMESTIC GROSS | LW | THTRS |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Mufasa: The Lion King | $23,836,000 | $168,600,931 | 2 | 3,925 |
| 2. Sonic The Hedgehog 3 | $21,200,000 | $187,508,000 | 1 | 3,746 |
| 3. Nosferatu | $13,200,000 | $69,401,000 | 3 | 3,132 |
| 4. Moana 2 | $12,397,000 | $425,152,483 | 5 | 3,345 |
| 5. Wicked | $10,200,000 | $450,752,000 | 4 | 3,287 |
| 6. A Complete Unknown | $8,067,000 | $41,696,667 | 6 | 2,835 |
| 7. Babygirl | $4,492,499 | $16,112,999 | 7 | 2,164 |
| 8. Gladiator II | $2,675,000 | $168,867,000 | 8 | 1,748 |
| 9. Homestead | $2,103,576 | $17,475,156 | 9 | 1,700 |
| 10. The Fire Inside | $1,229,901 | $7,128,870 | 10 | 2,032 |
Mufasa: The Lion King And Sonic The Hedgehog 3 Switch Spots As Both Winter Blockbusters Continue The Show Long Legs
To be fair, Mufasa: The Lion King didn’t exactly trounce Sonic The Hedgehog 3 in their third weekend squaring off. According to early box office results published by The Numbers, only about $2.6 million in ticket sales separated the two titles in the rankings. That being said, the Disney release now has the distinction of being the first number one release in the United States and Canada of the year 2025.
Mufasa: The Lion King still isn’t performing as well as its pre-pandemic predecessor (Jon Favreau’s The Lion King remake memorably made $191.8 million in domestic opening weekend before going on to make $1.7 billion worldwide), but in the context of the current market, it’s doing quite well after a mixed start. Unlike last weekend, which saw the prequel actually make more money in three days than it did during its theatrical debut, ticket sales have dipped, but they only fell 35 percent.
The $23.8 million it has added to its earnings bring the release’s ticket sales numbers up to $168.6 million. That means it is now neck-and-neck with Ridley Scott‘s Gladiator 2 on the 2024 domestic charts (the period sequel starring Paul Mescal and Denzel Washington having made $2.7 million since Friday). The titles are practically tied for fourteenth place and on the verge of surpassing Wes Ball’s Kingdom Of The Planet Of The Apes (which made $171.1 million before the end of its theatrical run in early summer).
The Barry Jenkins Disney film is performing much better overseas, which it should be noted was also the case with the 2019 movie. Mufasa: The Lion King has made nearly double in foreign markets compared to what it has made domestically, with ticket sales having eclipsed $307 million. Globally, it has now made $476.4 million, which puts it in the Top 10 for 2024 (pushing out Kelly Marcel’s Venom: The Last Dance, which finished its time on the big screen having made $475 million.
Sonic The Hedgehog 3 is clearly fading faster than Mufasa: The Lion King at the domestic box office (a result of the two movies trying to share a key demographic), but the sequel starring Ben Schwartz and Jim Carrey still continues to do quite well. The $21.2 million in made in the last three days represents just a 43 percent weekend-to-weekend drop – just a touch higher than the 38 percent dip it experienced last weekend – and it still sits ahead of its direct competition domestically, having made $187.5 million 17 days into its release.
It’s worth noting that the movie’s financial relationship with its predecessors is also superior to what’s going on with Mufasa: The Lion King. Thanks to its late December release, Sonic The Hedgehog 3 is doing much better over a longer time span than both of Jeff Fowler’s previous titles in the series. The new release was literally middle-of-the-pack in terms of domestic opening weekend ($60.1 million compared to $58 million for Sonic The Hedgehog in early 2020 and $72.1 million for the follow-up in spring 2022), but it’s performing much better than both overall. Within the next couple of days – if now tomorrow – the newest title will rank as the biggest film yet in the franchise in the United States and Canada.
Worldwide, Sonic The Hedgehog 3 has already made more than the first movie (which made $302.5 million before the COVID-19 pandemic shut down theaters), but it will need to make about $69 million more before it outpaces Sonic The Hedgehog 2 and becomes deemed the series’ biggest hit yet.
Nosferatu Has Passed $100 Million At The Global Box Office
Family friendly fare is clearly dominating at the box office right now, but not to be totally eliminated from the conversation is the dark lure of Robert Eggers‘ Nosferatu. The new horror movie landed in theaters on Christmas as a bit of counterprogramming to the general spirt of the holiday, and it has earned an excited reaction from mature audiences. It’s not performing well enough to directly compete with the blockbuster video game adaptation and animated prequel that are currently at the top of the domestic box office, but it’s still doing quite well all around the world.
The critically acclaimed vampire film made $21.7 million in its first Friday-to-Sunday stretch domestically, and it has added $13.2 million in its second – bringing its total to date up to $69.4 million. It has quickly become Eggers’ biggest box office success, having outgrossed 2022’s The Northman, which made $34.2 million domestically in 2022. Globally, Nosferatu has become the 49th title from 2024 to earn over $100 million.
After a bit of an extra wait, next weekend will finally see the arrival of a 2025 wide release title, as Christian Gudegast’s Den of Thieves 2: Pantera will be playing in theaters across the country, and more moviegoers will also be able to see Michael Gracey’s Robbie Williams biopic Better Man and Gia Coppola’s The Last Showgirl, which are both going to be screening nationwide. Be sure to head back here to CinemaBlend next Sunday to check out the box office results, and you can start planning all of your big screen plans with our 2025 Movie Release Schedule.