This holiday season, the box office is heating up with two family films vying for the top spot. Paramount’s “Sonic the Hedgehog 3” emerged victorious over Disney’s “Mufasa: The Lion King” by a narrow margin of $1 million.
The battle for dominance was fierce, but in the end, Sonic’s blue hair proved to be the deciding factor. With a three-day weekend total of $38 million, Paramount’s movie outperformed its competitor’s five-day earnings. However, when considering the Christmas holiday falling on a Wednesday, the stakes were even higher.
The unconventional counter-programming strategy paid off, with Focus Features’ modern reimagining of “Nosferatu” thriving in theaters. The film, starring Nicholas Hoult and Lily-Rose Depp, opened to a strong $21.2 million over the weekend, securing its place in third spot. Its five-day total is a respectable $40.3 million.
The success of these films is a testament to the changing landscape of the theatrical industry. With the rise of streaming services, studios are finding new ways to draw audiences back to the big screen. As Focus Features’ distribution chief Lisa Bunnell noted, “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.”
The holiday box office was also marked by a record-breaking opening for the Bob Dylan biopic “A Complete Unknown.” The film has earned $11.6 million over its first weekend, cementing its place as one of the biggest Christmas Day releases in recent memory.
As the year comes to a close, industry projections are predicting a domestic box office total of approximately $8.75 billion, down about 3.3% from last year’s record-breaking $9 billion. With these numbers, it’s clear that the holiday season is shaping up to be one for the books.
Source: https://apnews.com/article/box-office-nosferatu-mufasa-babygirl-5662a51bd4da7b5867da30abb88c919d