Sonic Speeds Past Mufasa - Weeks 5 & 6

 When it comes to family films, it used to always be every studio played second fiddle to Disney. For every Ice Age or Kung Fu Panda franchise, it always felt like there was another Disney film making even more that same year. That's started to crumble a bit in the past few years when Sings, Marios, and Wonkas made bigger splashes than pricey Disney flops. The Mouse House seemed to be turning the tide this year with Inside Out 2 and Moana 2, but now something else is seeming floppy again. 

In the battle of video game characters versus animation icons, Sega definitely drew first blood. Sonic the Hedgehog 3 ran into theaters with a $60.1 million debut. While this is down a little from Sonic 2’s $72 million start two years ago, holiday movies often play longer over the school break then needing to score all their money in the first weekend. Sonic 3 seems set to race into the top 5 and could end up with $180-$200 million. 

Meanwhile, Mufasa: The Lion King had a thorn stuck in its paw with a $35 million opening. Despite all the pedigree and amazing look that the first “live action” Lion King movie had, this origin story seemed to have no one asking for it. All those people who flocked to Moana 2 seemed to not care at all for Lion King Who. 

Again, it’s holiday break time so movies can flourish longer if they find their audience. Both Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle and Greatest Showman didn’t “start” well but then kept going weekend after weekend. There’s time for Mufasa to rebound or for Sonic to explode even more. Still, Lin-Manuel Miranda must be thinking he scored for the wrong film when Moana 2 is a smash and Mufasa seems lost. 

Two very “other” films came out in week 5 that seemed to have nothing going for them and, truth be told, nothing did go for them. 

Kraven The Hunter had the lowest opening ever for a Sony semi-related Spider-Man movie spinoff and the use of so many words to describe these films probably explains why there’s so little interest. With only $11 million in its first three days, that may have been more than they paid Russell Crowe to play a Russian mob boss based in Londan who doesn’t trust anyone who doesn’t love Tony Bennett. It was a very complicated role!

On the other side of branding nonsense was Warner Bros. creating an anime version of Middle Earth. The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim movie was completely obliterated at the box-office battlefield with an trauma-inducing $4.5 million debut. Both Kraven and LotR films fell more than 70% in their second weekends. There will be no “maybe things can get better for them over the school break” reprise for these lost souls. 

As for the other films, Wicked finally made more over the weekend than Moana 2 since they’ve been competing head-to-head for four weeks. With Wicked already having a $25 million lead, it seems hard to fathom that Moana can catch Elphaba at this point. What can she say except you’re welcome.  

The Top Five If Today Was MLK Day:

#1. Wicked: Part One - $384.6 million

#2. Moana 2 - $359.2 million

#3. Gladiator II - $154 million 

#4. Red One - $95.4 million 

#5. Sonic The Hedgehog 3 - $60.1 million

Moana 2 Erupts Over Thanksgiving Weekend - Weeks 3 & 4

When typing out the movies coming out this season a month ago I had no idea the Biggest Thanksgiving Weekend of All-Time was on the menu. I was expecting chicken poppers and fries and that would’ve been fine.

Instead Moana 2 defied expectations (and lackluster songs) to have one of the biggest openings ever for an animated film. Debuting to a mind-blowing $225 million five-day haul, The Rock finally stuck his “Executive Producer” credit on something that actually worked. Maybe Black Adam should’ve been a musical!

Meanwhile, Wicked continued to be a wicked-smart investment for Universal Pictures. The musical that does have great songs performed well. The yellow brick road led the film to another $118 million over that five-day period. 

Gladiator II may have ended-up at the kids table over Thanksgiving dinner, yet the swords and sandals tale still handled itself with $44 million. Considering the biggest star in the film wasn’t even one of the actual gladiators, Warner Bros. should be content that the franchise has been revived to the point that they can now make a MAX show to prolong the brand. That seems to be the only thing movies mean to them these days.   

One week later, movie-goers only wanted seconds of their favorite dishes. Moana 2 sailed in $52 million. Wicked flew to $36 million, and Gladiator II fought for $12 million. These are clearly the three films that are drawing a line in the sand and daring other films to pass them. We’ll see if they can keep cooking or if a new ghost kitchen pops up to steal all their thunder.

The Top Five If Today Was MLK Day:

#1. Wicked: Part One - $322.1 million

#2. Moana 2 - $299.3 million

#3. Gladiator II - $132.8 million 

#4. Red One - $85.8 million 

#5. n/a