‘Sonic the Hedgehog 3’ Eyes $70M Opening, ‘Mufasa’ $35M

DINNER FRIDAY AT: Fanboys may have sat out last weekend too The Lord of the Rings: War of the Rohirrim and Kraven the Hunter, but they’re back in bulk this weekend at Paramount’s Sonic the Hedgehog 3 which sees a potential franchise best 3-day opening, best Sonic the Hedgehog 2‘s $72.1 million. Currently watching the Jeff Fowler-directed threequel $26 million today for one $70.5 million 3-day in 3,761 cinemas.

Who knew we’d see the day in years past when a Paramount tentpole would dwarf a Disney one? Some rivals expected a very large gap Sonic and Mufasa. It wasn’t just a $10m spread.

Disney’s Mufasa don’t feel the love tonight with $13.3 million to Friday on the way to $35 million in 4,100 locations. Disney is dependent on overseas, where this $200M prequel before P&A is expected to clean up. Still a wealthy marketplace for two family films, though Mufasa comes very short.

A few things – while the fanboys are out, families will be heading back for Christmas. In addition, Disney has competition from their own fourth weekend Moana 2 on $14 million at 3,600 locations, -47%, after a $3.7m Friday. The sequel lands at $360 million before Sunday. It will be a battle for third place as Universals Evil also watching $14 million-38%, at 3,289 cinemas for a total $384.4 million.

Angel Studios’ Homestead in 1,886 cinemas watching a 3-day round $5.2 million after one $2.8 million Friday in 5th place. Film follows a former Green Beret in the midst of chaos who joins the prepper lineup; love grows, truths emerge, and a community unites. Neal McDonough stars in the Ben Smallbone-directed western.

EARLIER FRIDAY: Paramounts Sonic the Hedgehog 3 posted $6.5 million in Thursday night previews. It’s the official track from Paramount. This is stated by Disney Mufasa: The Lion King made $3.3 million.

It’s the best previews ever for one Sonic the Hedgehog film, ahead of the previous installment’s $5 million Thursday and the total preview total of $6.25 million. Sonic the Hedgehog 2 opened to $72.1M. in 2022, the best so far in the series. Sonic the Hedgehogs previews were $3M back in February 2020; that film opened just before the pandemic to $58M.

Sonic the Hedgehog 3 expected to open to $60M, while Mufasa was originally expected to be north of $50m. Don’t know about Mufasa will get there as its previews are not that far off Wonka ($3.5M), which made $39M last year and 2018’s Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse ($3.5m and $35.4m). The Barry Jenkins-directed prequel is booked in 4,100 cinemas.

Critics are more difficult Mufasa at 57% Rotten, while Sonic the Hedgehog 3 is 88% healthy. There is already an audience result for Sonic 3, and that’s a healthy 98%.

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Even if Mufasa fall short this weekend, Disney is hoping business will bounce back from Christmas Day onwards. Moviegoing traditionally explodes on Christmas Day as holiday distractions wind down, and continued strong into the New Year’s weekend. Having said that, this frame is historically home to the mega Christmas tentpole ie Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015), Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021) Avatar: The Waterway (2022) Today, Comscore reports that 13% of K-12 students are on recess, while 81% of high schools are on recess. This moves to 95% K-12 discount on Mondays and 94% high schools on recess before levels of nearly 100% from Christmas Eve to New Year’s Day.

Here’s how the rest of the week went: