The holiday weekend brought impressive earnings at the box office, with Disney’s animated film Mufasa: The Lion King coming out on top for the five-day period from Christmas Day through Sunday. The movie earned an estimated $63.8 million, according to industry tracker Exhibitor Relations.
Meanwhile, Paramount’s action-comedy Sonic the Hedgehog 3 dominated the traditional Friday-to-Sunday box office, bringing in $59.9 million over the holiday period. It earned $38 million more than Mufasa for the weekend, with Sonic 3 grossing $37.1 million compared to Mufasa’s $37.1 million.
Strong Holiday Box Office Numbers
Analyst David A. Gross pointed out that the holiday weekend generated “big, although not record-breaking” box office numbers. He expects even better results in the upcoming week. Among the highlights was the new vampire movie Nosferatu from Focus Features, which impressed with $40.3 million over the five-day period and $21.2 million for the three-day weekend. Gross called the movie’s opening “excellent for a new horror film,” noting its high critical acclaim. The film is a remake of the 1922 silent classic inspired by Dracula and stars Bill Skarsgård, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Willem Dafoe, and Nicholas Hoult.
Read more: ‘Mufasa: The Lion King’ Underperforms Globally
‘Wicked’ and ‘Moana 2’ Round Out Top Five
Universal’s Wicked, a musical fantasy starring Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande, earned $31.7 million over five days ($19.5 million for three), dropping to fourth place but still performing well. The movie’s global earnings have now reached $634 million.
Disney’s Moana 2, another animated film, made $28.3 million over five days ($18.2 million for three). Although it slipped one position in the rankings, it remained in the top five for the fifth straight week.
‘A Complete Unknown’ Performs Well
Searchlight Pictures’ A Complete Unknown, which stars Timothée Chalamet as an enigmatic Bob Dylan, earned $23.3 million over the five-day holiday period ($11.6 million for the three-day weekend). Dylan has praised Chalamet as a “brilliant actor” for his portrayal in the film.
The holiday box office showed strong results across a variety of genres, with Mufasa and Sonic 3 leading the way. As more films continue to draw audiences, the upcoming week is expected to see even more box-office success.
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