Weekend Box Office: Mufasa tops the first weekend of 2025

In our box office predictions earlier this week, we assumed that Sonic the Hedgehog 3 would be able to pull ahead of Mufasa: The Lion King at the box office over the weekend, as had been the case throughout most of the holidays. However, Disney’s prequel, which opened to disappointing business just before Christmas, managed to pull ahead and gross a solid $23.8 million, posting a modest 35% week-to-week decline. By comparison, Sonic the Hedgehog 3 declined a slightly steeper 43% to hit $21.2 million. While it lost the battle, Sonic’s won the war, with it having a $187.5 million total compared to Mufasa’s $168.6 million. Paramount will likely consider Sonic a much bigger box office victory than Disney will consider Mufasa, as the Lion King prequel will likely only finish with a final gross that’s a fraction of the $600 million plus earned by its 2019 predecessor. Meanwhile, Sonic 3 has already overtaken the $148 million earned by the first movie in the franchise, and is only a million or so shy of the $190 million earned by Sonic 2, making it the highest-grossing movie in the series.

However, it should be said that Disney’s had a great year overall, with Moana 2 adding another $12 million-plus to its coffers this weekend, for a huge $425 million total. By the time it ends its domestic run, it will have doubled the first film’s $248 million domestic gross. Yet, it was narrowly beaten this weekend by Robert Eggers’s breakout horror hit, Nosferatu, which earned $13.2 million for a domestic gross just shy of $70 million. Could it pass $100 million domestically? At any rate, it will easily end its run as Focus Features’s highest-grossing film to date. 

Despite being on PVOD, Universal’s Wicked continued to draw in big crowds, with it making $10.2 million for a $450 million domestic total. It will easily pass $500 million. Searchlight’s A Complete Unknown has also proven to be an adult-oriented hit, grossing just over $8 million this weekend for a $41.6 million total. It’s Searchlight’s highest-grossing film since the Disney merger in 2019. It should end its run with about $55-60 million domestically.

A24’s Babygirl, while not the breakout indie hit some expected, has done decent business for A24, making $4.49 million this weekend, which is a 0% decline from last weekend. While controversial, the buzz, be it positive or negative, is getting butts in seats. It’s made a decent $16 million so far, but could continue to do well in the weeks ahead if the movie nabs any Oscar nominations.

Meanwhile, Ridley Scott’s Gladiator II has begun to wrap up its run, with it making $2.6 million this weekend for a $168 million domestic total. Unadjusted for inflation, it will end its run as Ridley Scott’s third-highest-grossing movie domestically, behind The Martian and the original Gladiator. Angel Studio’s Homestead earned $2.1 million for a $17.5 million total, with the box office dropping off as some viewers are complaining online about the movie being a bait-and-switch, as it’s essentially just a pilot for the studio’s latest streaming series. The top 10 was rounded out by Amazon/MGM’s The Fire Inside, which made $1.2 million for a $7.1 million gross.

Notably, the weekend’s biggest per-screen average went to A24’s The Brutalist, which earned $244.341 on only eight screens. The Robbie Williams biopic Better Man didn’t fare as well, making $27k in six theaters, which doesn’t bode well for its wide break on Friday.

What did you see this weekend? Let us know in the comments!