Mufasa may be the Lion King. But a blue hedgehog sits on the North American box-office throne.
In a clash of kid-centric family films, Sonic the Hedgehog 3 sprinted past Mufasa: The Lion King and coasted to a surprisingly easy victory. Sonic collected an estimated $62 million in North America, compared to $35 million for Mufasa. Sonic 3 did far better than the $50 million most experts were predicting, but it still slid short of the debut of its immediate forebear, Sonic the Hedgehog 2, which earned $72.1 million during its opening frame in 2022.
But while Sonic might’ve dominated stateside, Mufasa ruled overseas. The Lion King prequel roared to $87.2 million in international markets, pushing its worldwide total to $122.2 million. In comparison, Sonic 3 collected just $1.4 million internationally, bringing its global box-office coffers to $63.4 million.
Wicked: Part 1 locked down third place domestically by earning a tidy $13.5 million. That helped the musical push past Despicable Me 4 to become the year’s third highest-earning film: Wicked has now earned $383.9 million to Despicable Me 4’s $361 million. Seems as though Elphaba isn’t the only thing about Wicked that’s green.
After spending three straight weekends at No. 1, Moana 2 slid to fourth place, gathering $13.1 million in its box-office nets. It’s the year’s fifth highest-grossing film, having earned $359.1 million over its run thus far.
In fifth place we find Angel Studio’s latest faith-based effort, Homestead. The survivalist dystopian movie—which also serves as the introduction to Angel’s newest TV series, also named Homestead—scraped up $6.1 million to squirrel it away in its concrete bunkers.
One Response
I haven’t seen “Mufasa” yet but am glad it’s doing well – I was worried its same-day release with Sonic 3 would doom the film. That said, “Sonic 3” was for the most part a great movie, despite having a less stable-feeling script than the previous two films had. It felt like it exchanged vulgar humor for intense-for-children violence and themes, so I’d still exercise caution.