‘Mufasa’ Leads Muted MLK Box Office Weekend With $15.5 Million

There’s good news at the MLK weekend box office for films like Sony’s new buddy comedy “One of Them Days” as well as more milestones for Christmas holdovers “Mufasa” and “Sonic the Hedgehog 3,” but this holiday period is proving to be a weak one for theaters.

Overall grosses for the 4-day period are expected to fall to $96-100 million, an 18% drop from last year. “Mufasa” is taking No. 1 with an estimated 4-day total of $15.5 million in its fifth weekend, which is the lowest No. 1 total seen on an MLK weekend since the unadjusted $14 million 4-day holdover total of the Brad Pitt/Anthony Hopkins western “Legends of the Fall” way back in 1995, according to Box Office Mojo.

For Disney, this $15.5 million total for “Mufasa” is just fine, as it pushes the film’s domestic total past $200 million while its global total reaches $588 million. Though a world away from the $1.65 billion global total of the 2019 “Lion King” remake, “Mufasa” has rebounded from a very slow pre-Christmas opening weekend to reach the doorstop of the $600 million mark, making it another theatrical win for Disney.

The top opening weekend of the MLK period is also an example of a result that is more positive for studios than exhibitors. Sony’s “One of Them Days,” a buddy comedy that is a $14 million co-production between TriStar and MACRO, is right behind “Mufasa” with an $11.6 million 3-day/$14 million 4-day total.

At such a low budget and with strong early reception — an A- on CinemaScore and Rotten Tomatoes scores of 97% critics and 92% audience — “One of Them Days” will be a successful comedy for Sony with a chance for long legs. The question now is whether the post-release buzz can win over casual moviegoers who can be sold on a breezy, fun night at the movies similar to Sony’s last comedic hit, “Anyone But You.”

The more disappointing result goes to Universal/Blumhouse’s “Wolf Man,” which was projected by independent trackers to be the No. 1 film this weekend with a $20 million-plus 4-day start but is instead looking at a $12 million extended opening. That’s less than half of the $28.2 million 3-day opening made by writer-director Leigh Whannell’s last film, “The Invisible Man,” in February 2020.

With a $25 million budget, “Wolf Man” should be able to pass the break-even point theatrically. But theaters’ hopes of an early-year horror hit supporting business until next month’s release of “Captain America: Brave New World” have been dashed as the movie has earned a 53% RT score and a C- on CinemaScore.

It’s a continuation of Blumhouse’s year-long streak of films like “Night Swim” and “Speak No Evil” that have turned modest profits but have not been breakout successes like “The Black Phone,” “M3GAN” or “Five Nights at Freddy’s,” all of which are getting sequels from the studio later this year.

In fourth is Paramount’s “Sonic the Hedgehog 3” with a $10.3 million 4-day total, bringing its cume to $218 million domestic and $420 million worldwide, making it the highest grossing film in the Sega series.

Lionsgate’s “Den of Thieves: Pantera” and Disney’s “Moana 2,” are in a narrow race for fifth, with “Pantera” earning an $8.25 million extended second weekend to bring its total to $27.8 million.

“Moana 2,” meanwhile, is estimated to earn $8.3 million over four days as it becomes the third Disney release of 2024 to gross $1 billion worldwide. Disney now has 32 of the 56 billion-dollar hits in its filmography, with “Moana 2” being the fourth from Walt Disney Animation alongside the two “Frozen” films and “Zootopia.”

In limited release, Sony Pictures Classics’ “I’m Still Here” opened in five theaters in Los Angeles and New York and is estimated to earn $125,000 over four days for a solid $25,000 per theater average. The Brazilian entry for the Best International Film Oscar got an extra boost of attention from the surprise Golden Globe win for Fernanda Torres, who played lawyer and activist Eunice Paiva in a recounting of her years-long fight to expose the death of her husband at the hands of Brazil’s military dictatorship.

Finally, A24’s “The Brutalist” continues its remarkable specialty run, earning an estimated $2.4 million over four days after expanding to 272 new locations for a total of 388 theaters. That is a 43% surge from last weekend and gives the film a $5.8 million total ahead of Thursday’s Oscar nomination announcement and next weekend’s nationwide rollout.

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