'Mufasa' Outruns 'Sonic 3' to Win the Christmas Box Office

Last weekend, Sonic the Hedgehog 3 was able to race past Mufasa: The Lion King to win the box-office competition, but the same did not hold true for the mid-week Christmas holiday. Mufasa managed to win the holiday, followed by the horror remake Nosferatu. Sonic 3 aptly took third place, followed by the Bob Dylan bio pic A Complete Unknown. Read on for details.

Via Variety.

Christmas moviegoers visited the Pride Lands in force over the holidays, propelling Disney’s “Mufasa: The Lion King” to the top of the charts. The family friendly adventure dominated ticket sales, earning $14.7 million to capture the box office crown. That pushed its domestic tally to $64.3 million. Globally, the prequel to “The Lion King” has earned $197.7 million after adding $18.8 million from international markets on Wednesday. Stateside, the film is on pace to generate more than $50 million over the five-day holiday frame.

Focus Features’ “Nosferatu,” a blood-soaked horror film about a Dracula-like vampire, catered to very different crowds than “Mufasa,” while capturing second place on its opening day with $11.5 million. The movie is directed by Robert Eggers, who oversaw arthouse favorites like “The Witch” and “The Lighthouse.” Its ensemble includes rising stars like Lily-Rose Depp, Nicholas Hoult, Bill Skarsgård and Aaron Taylor-Johnson, along with veterans such as Willem Dafoe. It has a sizable budget of $50 million, so it needs to keep succeeding as a gory bit of Christmas season counter-programming to justify its cost.

Speeding in at No. 3, Paramount’s “Sonic the Hedgehog 3,” which had topped the weekend box office, ceded ground to “Mufasa.” The latest entry in the film franchise earned $10.3 million on Wednesday from more than 3,700 North American theaters, bringing its domestic haul to $88 million. Paramount feels there’s more life in this spiky haired hedgehog, having recently given the go-ahead to another sequel that will open in 2027. “Sonic” is based on a Sega video game series, which has been around since the early ’90s.

In fourth place, Searchlight’s Bob Dylan biopic “A Complete Unknown,” premiered on Wednesday with $7.2 million, which included $1.4 million from Tuesday previews. The film, which stars Timothee Chalamet as the freewheelin’ music legend and was directed by James Mangold, who oversaw the Johnny Cash biopic “Walk the Line,” has earned rave reviews and Oscar buzz. It is expected to bring in $22 million over its fist five days. It reportedly cost between $60 million to $70 million, a tidy sum for a movie aimed at adults. There’s reason to be optimistic it may able to defy the odds and turn a profit.

Get the rest of the story at Variety.