Sonic 3 Wins Family Films Race

Nosferatu has a big opening, especially for its popcorn buckets
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Dec 29, 2024 12:30 PM CST
Sonic 3 Wins Family Films Race
This image released by Paramount Pictures and Sega of America shows Jim Carrey as Ivo Robotnik in a scene from "Sonic the Hedgehog 3."   (Paramount Pictures and Sega of America, Inc. via AP)

Two family films dominated the holiday box office this week, with Sonic the Hedgehog 3 winning the three-day weekend over Mufasa by a blue hair. Paramount's Sonic movie earned $38 million, while Mufasa brought in $37.1 million from theaters in the US and Canada, according to studio estimates Sunday. On a normal weekend counting Friday, Saturday and Sunday ticket purchases, the winner would be somewhat clear. But when the Christmas holiday falls on a Wednesday as it did this year, the studios look at two sets of numbers: the five-day earnings and the three-day weekend earnings. With the five-day tally, the Walt Disney Co.'s Mufasa had the edge, bringing in $63.8 million, the AP reports.

It all adds up to a robust theatrical landscape, helped by the continued success of Wicked and Moana 2, which are on their sixth and fifth weekends, respectively. The vampire horror Nosferatu debuted fairly triumphantly. Robert Eggers' modern reimagining of a 1922 silent film starring Nicholas Hoult and Lily-Rose Depp rose to the top of a starry batch of Christmas Day newcomers, which included the Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown with Timothée Chalamet, the erotic drama Babygirl with Nicole Kidman, and The Fire Inside, which is about boxer Claressa Shields. Nosferatu landed in third place with $21.2 million from the weekend and $40.3 million from its first five days. Not accounting for inflation, it had the best Christmas Day opening ever for a genre film, with $11.6 million. It was a gamble to open it on Christmas, when family films or blockbusters tend to be prioritized. But it paid off. The sarcophagus-inspired popcorn buckets are even reselling for over $100.

Final domestic figures will be released Monday. Below are estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at US and Canadian theaters, according to Comscore.

  1. Sonic the Hedgehog 3, $38 million.
  2. Mufasa: The Lion King, $37.1 million.
  3. Nosferatu, $21.2 million.
  4. Wicked, $19.5 million.
  5. Moana 2, $18.2 million.
  6. A Complete Unknown, $11.6 million.
  7. Babygirl, $4.4 million.
  8. Gladiator II, $4.2 million.
  9. Homestead, $3.2 million.
  10. The Fire Inside, $2 million.
(More box office stories.)

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