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 U.S. 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.
It all adds up to a rather 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” also 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,” 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 (besting “The Faculty’s” $4.4 million in 1998). Focus Features released the R-rated film in 2,992 theaters.
It was a gamble to open “Nosferatu” on Christmas, when family films or all-ages blockbusters tend to be prioritized. But it paid off, attracting the coveted 18 to 34-year-old demographic to theaters.
“It was a risky move, but we knew that we had such a great film,” said Lisa Bunnell, who leads distribution for Focus Features. “A lot of people thought we were insane. But I think the more that people thought we were crazy, the more we all felt like it was the right thing to do.”
The response to the unconventional counter-programming was gratifying. The sarcophagus-inspired popcorn buckets are even reselling for over $100.
“People keep talking about ‘how do we get people back into the movies?’ I think the only way you can get people to go back is to shake it up,” Bunnell said. “You don’t just spoon feed them the same things over and over again.”
The Bob Dylan movie, directed by James Mangold, also got off to a bright start with $11.6 million over the weekend and $23.2 million since Christmas. The 5-day total is a record for Searchlight Pictures since Disney acquired the company in early 2019. It’s been well received by both critics (96% on Rotten Tomatoes) and audiences (A on CinemaScore) and will likely get more of a boost from the awards race.