TAGGED AS: Box Office, movies, news
Horror returned to January this week and it was not what we hoped for. Critics have come away mixed from the latest in the alterna-Dark Universe. Social media critics may still have not shaken off the gray-whiskered creature advertising the film at Universal Studios last fall. Maybe audiences just aren’t that keen on werewolf films. Whatever the case may be, something funnier and raunchier also came along and captured critics in a big way and had a promising start as well. And while audiences took in the newcomers, Mufasa returned to Pride Rock for an MLK-holiday weekend not as strong as 2024 or 2023 but still better than 2022, when the Scream reboot led the way.
It’s not often you can say that a movie opens in second place, wins a 5-day Christmas holiday stretch while still losing its second weekend, takes first place in its third weekend, returns to second in its fourth, and then, in weekend five, may actually lose the 3-day weekend but handily win the 4-day total. It boggles the mind. It took Rain Man until its third weekend back in 1988-89 over the Christmas holiday to go from second to first. Same for Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle in 2017, but it was up against The Last Jedi. In 1992, it took Disney’s Aladdin six weeks of wide release before it hit first in its seventh weekend.
We could go on and on, but first place once again belongs to Mufasa: The Lion King, which officially passed $200 million domestic with an estimated $12 million over the weekend and $16 million through the holiday. Sitting on $210.3 million, Disney’s film is lining up nicely with the numbers for Night at the Museum, which had $204.8 million in its first 31 days after a $12 million fifth weekend. MLK weekend arrived in that film’s fourth weekend, which gave it a $17-to-$14 million edge over the prequel. Mufasa evened the playing field this weekend and now could be headed to over $250 million while it eyes passing $600 million at the worldwide box office. It is up to $588 million currently.
Second place this week was also a surprise going to One Of Them Days, starring Keke Palmer and SZA. The $14 million feature debut of music video director Lamont Johnson made $11.6 million from Friday to Sunday and an estimated $14 million over the holiday after nearly matching Wolf Man in Thursday previews with $1.3 million (compared to $1.4 million). In the history of January, only two Fresh films opening to $10+ million ever failed to at least double their start. One was Cloverfield, which missed by mere fractions (1.9983x its opening) but also started with a lofty $40 million. The other was the Ethan Hawke vampire apocalypse movie Daybreakers, also barely missing with a 1.987 multiple. One Of Them Days is currently Fresh at 96% with critics, and it just went Verified Hot with a Popcornmeter of 92%. That makes it one of the highest-rated wide releases to open this month. Paddington (99%) and then Paddington 2 and One Of Them Days. Paddington, Palmer, and SZA. Now there’s a pitch for the fourth film. Incidentally, Sony will release the third Paddington film on Valentine’s Day.
Maybe people should not be too hard on Leigh Whannell’s Wolf Man this weekend when reporting the numbers. Though there is certainly disappointment, considering (again) the failed tracking estimates on top of how well The Invisible Man started (and even how well Joe Johnston’s The Wolfman started in February 2010), it is hardly a catastrophe — just disappointing. $10.5 million from Friday to Sunday and an estimated $12 million through the Martin Luther King holiday is barely half of the $20 million many believed was the floor for this well-advertised creature feature. Reminder: Eight of the top 20 January openings belonged to horror or horror-adjacent films (Glass, anyone?), and this one doesn’t even register inside the Top 100 from Friday to Sunday.
Twilight and Underworld films notwithstanding, as well as titles that found their life on home video like Dog Soldiers and Ginger Snaps, the werewolf film just hasn’t found its niche at the box office. The highest-grossing of the bunch has actually been Mike Nichols’ Wolf back in 1994, which opened to $17.9 million and grossed over $65 million. Johnston’s 2010 Wolfman had the solid $31.4 million start, but at a cost of $150 million, its $61.9 million finish made it one of the bigger duds of the year. After that we are talking Red Riding Hood ($14 million opening / $37.6 million finish), Wes Craven’s Cursed ($9.6 / $19.2), then the heyday of the ‘80s (An American Werewolf In London, The Howling, Silver Bullet, Wolfen) down to 21st century releases in less than 2,000 theaters like Blood and Chocolate ($2.0 / $3.52), The Cursed ($1.7 / $4.58). and the recent Werewolves ($1.05 / $1.90). Not being able to beat Red Riding Hood is going to sting.
Even at a cost of $25 million, which is on the higher end for Blumhouse, that is still a very reasonable number that could still be accounted for overseas. The Invisible Man managed to make $74 million in the three weeks before the pandemic begin. Wolf Man has gotten out to a $4.8 million start. In two weeks, Warner Bros.’ Companion hits theaters and is hoping to draw in the horror crowd that has helped make this month more interesting over the years.
Another film watching the numbers of Night at the Museum is Paramount’s Sonic the Hedgehog 3. Already their best non-Tom Cruise related project in years, the franchise sequel opened the same day as Mufasa and got out to a solid early lead, which it still maintains, though it has slipped a little faster. Down to $8.6 million this weekend and $11 million estimated through the holiday, Sonic the Hedgehog 3 is more on the Alvin and the Chipmunks track ($9.3 million in its fifth weekend). That continues to suggest a landing somewhere in the $240 million region. Its $8 million lead on Mufasa will continue to dissipate, and while it may have more than lost the international battle, it crossed $420 million worldwide this weekend, the best of the franchise, and awaits part four in 2027.
In another of the holiday battles, Disney’s Moana 2 officially crossed the billion-dollar line this weekend after earning $6 million domestic for the 3-day and $8.4 million through Monday for $445+ million total and plenty more overseas amounting to $1.01 billion. That is Disney’s third billion-dollar release of 2024 after Inside Out 2 and Deadpool & Wolverine. It is now the 28th-highest grossing film of all time in its initial run, passing Shrek 2 ($441.2 million) with its sights on The Dark Knight Rises ($448.1 million). Universal’s Wicked is already in the Top 25 amongst first-run releases and remains firmly at No. 25 after an estimated $4.5 million through the holiday, bringing its totals to over $465 million domestic and $700 million globally.
From first to fifth place this week (sixth through the holiday) falls Den of Thieves 2: Pantera, and it is already falling behind the pace of the first film from 2018. Grossing an estimated $6.6 million from Friday to Sunday and an estimated $7.7 million through the holiday, the film is up to $27.3 million in 11 days. Taking it back a day, its 10-day total is an estimated $26.2 million and more than $2 million behind the start of the original. The sequel cost $10 million more than the original and the slack is currently not being made up by international sales, which only amount to $1.2 million to date. Theatrical recoupment needs to be in the $100 million region worldwide, especially if there are hopes of continuing to Greenland — I mean greenlight — these films for Gerard Butler.
Robert Eggers’ Nosferatu has its eye on hitting a remarkable milestone. An estimated $5.1 million through the holiday has the film over $90 million. That may still be $10 million away from hitting the $100 million milestone, but it is less than $7 million away from becoming Focus Features’ highest-grossing domestic release of all time. The only December release to have $90 million in the bank after 26 days and not reach nine digits was the Jim Carrey comedy Yes Man, though it did break $97 million, which was enough to bust the Downton Abbey record for Focus. Yes Man began to fall hard once it got into January, including just $3 million over the MLK holiday, which was its fifth weekend, compared to Nosferatu’s fourth. It is going to be close, and maybe a couple surprise Oscar nominations this week could give it new life to achieve both.
No film has made better strides in the awards race in the past couple weeks than James Mangold’s A Complete Unknown. It is teed up for a number of nominations this week, and Searchlight hopes that will add a few bucks to its theatrical tally. After $3.8 million from Friday to Sunday and $4.6 million estimated through Monday, the $70 million production stands at $58.3 million. Hanging onto the faintest of awards hopes is Halina Reijn’s Babygirl, which rounds out the top 10 with $2 million over the weekend and an estimated $2.46 million through Monday to bring its total to $25.8 million. Some pundits believe Nicole Kidman still has a shot for a Best Actress nomination in a very crowded field.
Brady Corbet’s The Brutalist, on the other hand, is anticipating a slew of nominations on Thursday. Now in 338 theaters, the 3.5-hour drama made $1.98 million over the weekend and $2.40 million through Monday, bringing the A24 release up to $5.8 million. Pedro Almodovar’s The Room Next Door expanded to 861 theaters and makde $660,000. RaMell Ross’ Nickel Boys expanded to 214 theaters this weekend and grossed just $297,000. That is just a $1,238 per-theater average in its fifth weekend, a drop from $8,053 in its fourth when it grossed $144,948 in 18 theaters. Paramount’s September 5 moved in to 121 theaters hoping for an Oscar shoutout this week. It made $365,000 to bring its total to $852,000. The Robbie Williams-as-chimpanzee biopic, Better Man, fell 76% making $255,000 for a total of $1.8 million.
I’m Still Here, starring Fernanda Torres in her Golden Globe-winning performance, made $125,000 in five theaters. Will Torres become a Best Actress nominee, or will it be Marianne Jean-Baptiste for Mike Leigh’s Hard Truths, which made $153,000 over the weekend to bring its total to $420,000? Jean-Baptiste won awards from NY, LA, Chicago, the National Society of Film Critics, and countless others for Best Actress, and if she were not to garner a nomination, it would be one of the great studio blunders of all time from Bleecker Street, which has not had a major nominee since Bryan Cranston was tapped for Trumbo back in 2015.
A pair of Academy Award winners get their latest into theaters next week. Mel Gibson’s thriller, Flight Risk, opens with the filmmaker’s latest collaboration with Mark Wahlberg after working with him in Daddy’s Home 2 and Father Stu. Despite Gibson’s reasonable track record with critics on his directorial efforts, the Lionsgate release arrives with no advance screenings for press. On the other hand, critics have been seeing Steven Soderbergh’s Presence since last year’s Sundance. On the eve of the 2025 edition of the festival, Neon debuts his POV ghost tale to audiences with a very respectable 90% Tomatometer score from critics thus far.
58%
89%
Mufasa: The Lion King
(2024)
– $11.5 million (3-day), $15.5 million (4-day) – $209.8 million total
96%
92%
One of Them Days
(2025)
– $11.6 million (3-day), $14 million (4-day) – $14 million total
53%
57%
Wolf Man
(2025)
– $10.5 million (3-day), $12 million (4-day) – $12 million total
88%
95%
Sonic the Hedgehog 3
(2024)
– $8.6 million (3-day), $11 million (4-day) – $218.9 million total
61%
86%
Moana 2
(2024)
– $6 million (3-day), $8.4 million (4-day) – $445.1 million total
61%
79%
Den of Thieves 2: Pantera
(2025)
– $6.6 million (3-day), $7.7 million (4-day) – $27.3 million total
84%
73%
Nosferatu
(2024)
– $4.3 million (3-day), $5.1 million (4-day) – $90.2 million total
79%
96%
A Complete Unknown
(2024)
– $3.8 million (3-day), $4.6 million (4-day) – $58.3 million total
88%
95%
Wicked
(2024)
– $3.5 million (3-day), $4.5 million (4-day) – $465.5 million total
76%
48%
Babygirl
(2024)
– $2 million (3-day), $2.46 million (4-day) – $25.8 million total
Erik Childress can be heard each week evaluating box office on Business First AM with Angela Miles and his Movie Madness Podcast.
[box office figures via Box Office Mojo]
Thumbnail image by ©Disney
