'Sonic 3' Narrowly Wins the Christmas Weekend
by EG
Mufasa: The Lion King won the box-office race on Christmas Day, but by the time the weekend rolled around, Sonic the Hedgehog 3 had gained enough speed to zip past the Disney prequel to win the weekend competition. Close behind were two other recent releases, the horror remake Nosferatu and the Bob Dyland bio pic A Complete Unknown. Read on for details.
It looks like there are two Christmas winners.
Disney’s Mufasa: The Lion King and Paramount’s Sonic the Hedgehog 3 both get to claim bragging rights to winning the holiday box office crown as a topsy-turvy year at the box office comes to a close — or sort of, anyway.
Mufasa topped the five-day holiday corridor (Wednesday through Sunday) with an estimated $63.8 million, versus an estimated $60.4 million for the Sonic threequel.
There’s a caveat, though. Sonic 3 narrowly beat Mufusa to win the three-day weekend with an estimated $38 million, versus $37.1 million for The Lion King sequel.
Both titles opened last weekend, with Sonic 3 becoming an instant crowd-pleaser and handily beating Mufasa. And on Friday, it raced past the $100 million mark domestically after topping the day with an estimated $12.6 million. Through Sunday, its domestic earnings were an estimated $137.6 million. Overseas, it launched to a series-best $74 million this weekend from 84 percent of the international marketplace for a global tally of $211.5 million.
The standout performance of Sonic 3 is a major win for Paramount as it prepares to be taken over by new owner David Ellison.
During Christmas week, Mufasa rebounded after its disappointing opening as more families became available, but it still lags behind Sonic overall in North America with a domestic total of $113.5 million through Sunday. Offshore is another matter, where Mufusa stayed atop the chart this weekend with $77.1 million for a foreign tally of $214.5 million and $328 million globally.
They are hardly the only two movies making noise in what’s turning out to be a very merry Christmas for a flurry of films.
Robert Eggers and Focus Features’ new star-studded vampire pic Nosferatu, one of several films opening nationwide on Christmas Day, posted an impressive five-day opening of $40.3 million, including $21.2 million for the weekend. That’s well ahead of expectations and one of the best showings ever for a horror pic opening at Christmas. The male-skewing movie — starring Lily-Rose Depp, Nicholas Hoult and Bill Skarsgard — earned a B- CinemaScore, which isn’t bad for a horror title.
Rival specialty distributor Searchlight Pictures is also smiling. Timothée Chalamet’s critically acclaimed A Complete Unknown, also opening Wednesday, is likewise doing far more than expected and is on course to sing to $23.3 million for the five days.
Get the rest of the story at The Hollywood Reporter.