Though there isn’t an “Avatar”-level smash hit at the holiday box office this year, there are several films that are getting good news on the charts in this final weekend of 2024 from second weekend tentpoles like Paramount’s “Sonic the Hedgehog 3” and Disney’s “Mufasa” to Focus and Searchlight’s specialty alternatives “Nosferatu” and “A Complete Unknown.”
It’s a tight race between the still speeding “Sonic 3” and the resurgent “Mufasa” for No. 1, with the hedgehog currently having the edge with an estimated $37.4 million Fri.-Sun. total that is just a 38% drop from its $60 million opening weekend. “Mufasa” is just behind with an estimated $35 million, matching its opening weekend total.
When the weekend window is extended to five days to include Christmas Day, “Mufasa” takes the narrow lead with an estimated $61 million compared to $59 million for “Sonic 3.” Families more familiar with “The Lion King” than Sega’s video games have flocked to Barry Jenkins’ prequel starting on Christmas Day, just as Disney had hoped, giving it a chance to join “Sonic 3” in potentially crossing $200 million domestic and $500 million worldwide.
Meanwhile, two Christmas Day specialty offerings are performing very well in wide release. Focus Features’ “Nosferatu,” after beating expectations with an $11.5 million opening day on Wednesday, is now estimated to earn $20 million this weekend for a $39 million 5-day start from 2,992 theaters, above projections for a $30 million extended launch.
Produced on a reported $50 million budget, Robert Eggers remake of the classic vampire tale earned Rotten Tomatoes scores of 86% critics and 76% audience and a B- on CinemaScore, the latter’s grade just above the C+ of this summer’s indie horror hit, “Longlegs.” With this start, “Nosferatu” will become the highest grossing Focus Features release since the first “Downton Abbey” film, which grossed $96 million in 2019, and is on course to become one of the distributor’s top 10 highest grossing films ever.
Searchlight’s “A Complete Unknown,” meanwhile, is drawing in older moviegoers well with its recounting of Bob Dylan’s early career, earning an estimated $12 million this weekend for a 5-day start of $23.5 million from 2,835 locations. With an A on CinemaScore and a 95% Rotten Tomatoes audience score, it has everything it needs to become Searchlight’s highest grossing movie since the Best Picture winner “The Shape of Water,” which grossed $63.8 million in 2017.
In a sign of how strong the box office is right now, “A Complete Unknown” didn’t crack the top 5 despite this great start thanks to the excellent holds for Universal’s “Wicked” and Disney’s “Moana 2.” “Wicked,” rolled out a sing-along version on Christmas Day, has crossed the $400 million domestic mark with $19.8 million grossed in its sixth weekend, giving it an estimated $424 million total in North America. “Moana 2” is right behind with $17.7 million for a $394 million domestic total as it inches closer to $1 billion worldwide.
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