Many were quick to write off Disney’s Mufasa: The Lion King when it lost badly to Paramount’s Sonic the Hedgehog 3 last weekend, but the landscape changed on Wednesday as families became more available after holiday duties.
Mufasa topped the Christmas day chart with $15 million, followed by filmmaker Robert Egger’s new star-studded vampire pic Nosferatu with a promising $11.6 million and Sonic 3 with $10.7 million.
A horror-fantasy, Nosferatu is looking to come in third with as much as $40 million for the five days behind Mufasa and Sonic, well ahead of expectations (anything above $20 million would be a victory). Modeling is difficult this early in the game, and projections for all films could shift. Eggers’ movie stars Lily-Rose Depp, Nicholas Hoult and Bill Skarsgård.
Mufasa is anticipating a five-day gross north of $50 million, while Sonic 3 is likewise targeting $50 million (at this stage, most rivals have Mufasa in the lead). Through Wednesday, the film’s global haul is just shy of $200 million.
A flurry of other titles also opened nationwide on Christmas Day — particularly award contenders — hoping to capitalize on the long five-day holiday weekend (Wednesday-Sunday) as 2024 comes to a close. Overall, the year-end has been good news for the box office, with the year-over-year deficit narrowing from 11 percent in mid-November to four percent now. The bonanza was kicked off at Thanksgiving by the potent combo of Moana 2, Wicked and Gladiator II.
Timothée Chalamet’s critically acclaimed A Complete Unknown earned a stellar $7.2 million on Wednesday as older moviegoers flocked to see the Bob Dylan biopic. The Searchlight Pictures and Golden Globe nominee could earn as much as $22 million-plus for the five-days, a strong start and ahead of tracking.
A24’s much buzzed-about Oscar hopeful Babygirl, starring Nicole Kidman, is eyeing a $7 million five-day opening after earning $1.7 million on Wednesday. Distributor A24 is also handling awards frontrunner The Brutalist, which is bypassing a nationwide release in favor of a traditional platform release that sees it debut in six locations this weekend.
Amazon MGM Studios’ A Fire Inside, which was penned by Barry Jenkins is looking at a $6 million five-day opening (A Complete Unknown held sneaks in more than Imax locations on Dec. 18).
More to come.
