Worldwide box office January 3-5
| Rank | Film (distributor) | 3-day (world) | Cume (world) | 3-day (int’l) | Cume (int’l) | Territories |
| 1. | Mufasa: The Lion King (Disney) | $77.3m | $476.4m | $53.5m | $307.8m | 53 |
| 2. | Sonic The Hedgehog 3 (Paramount) | $72.4m | $336.3m | $51.2m | $148.8m | 62 |
| 3. | Nosferatu (Universal) | $40m | $100.4m | $26.8m | $31m | 62 |
| 4. | Moana 2 (Disney) | $38.4m | $960.5m | $26m | $535.3m | 53 |
| 5. | Wicked (Universal) | $21m | $681.3m | $10.8m | $230.5m | 82 |
| 6. | Octopus With Broken Arms (various) | $15.7m | $74.2m | $15.7m | $74.2m | 3 |
| 7. | Big World (various) | $11.1m | $77.4m | $11.1m | $77.4m | 1 |
| 8. | Finist, The First Warrior (NMG) | $9.4m | $9.4m | $9.4m | $9.4m | 1 |
| 9. | A Complete Unknown (Searchlight) | $8.1m | $41.7m | 1 | ||
| 10. | Honey Money Phony (various) | $7.3m | $28.9m | $7.3m | $7.3m | 4 |
Credit: Comscore. All figures are estimates.
‘Mufasa’ stays ahead of rival ‘Sonic The Hedgehog 3’
Solid holds for Disney’s Mufasa: The Lion King in North America and international markets saw the film retain the global top spot – holding off the challenge of a globally expanding Sonic The Hedgehog 3.
Mufasa fell 35% in its third weekend of play in North America and 31% in international markets, delivering estimated weekend takings of $77.3m worldwide. Total after three sessions globally is $476.4m.
Disney’s film – which is both a sequel and prequel to 2019 remake The Lion King – had the benefit of school holidays continuing last week. Mufasa added $148.4m globally over the past seven days.
In cumulative box office, France remains the top international territory with $30.9m, ahead of UK/Ireland ($25.9m) and Mexico ($21.4m). The past week saw Germany ($20.5m) overtake Italy ($19.6m).
A strong India ($16.5m) remains the sixth-biggest international market, ahead of China ($13.8m), Spain ($13.0m), Brazil ($10.5m) and Japan ($9.8m).
Mufasa is now the 10th highest-grossing film globally among 2024 releases, and will today overtake ninth-placed Venom: The Last Dance ($476.9m).
Despite the success, Mufasa has so far reached just 29% of the $1.66bn lifetime total achieved by Disney’s The Lion King remake in 2019.
Also for Disney, Moana 2 added an estimated $38.4m globally at the weekend, and $78.0m in total over the past seven days. Cumulative total is a mighty $960.5m, which compares with a lifetime total of $643.3m for the original Moana in 2016.
Moana 2 will soon overtake Universal’s Despicable Me 4 ($969.1m) to become the third-biggest 2024 release at the worldwide box office. That chart is led by Inside Out 2 ($1.70bn) and Deadpool And Wolverine ($1.34bn). This will give Disney the top three slots in the 2024 worldwide box office chart.
Fresh markets boost ‘Sonic The Hedgehog 3’
Paramount’s Sonic The Hedgehog 3 ran Mufasa: The Lion King a close second in North America, in international markets and globally.
The videogame spinoff sequel fell 43% in the domestic home market, and 36% in international holdover territories – with the latter also boosted by seven new openings.
Worldwide, the film took an estimated $72.4m – less than $5m behind Mufasa’s weekend haul – and the cumulative total is now $336.3m. That pushes the Sonic franchise past $1bn globally.
Among the new openings, Brazil led with an estimated $6.8m including previews, ahead of Italy ($5.1m including previews) and Poland ($3.3m including previews).
Sonic The Hedgehog 3 has now reached 96% of its international footprint, with three markets yet to release including China on January 10.
In cumulative, UK/Ireland leads the international pack with $23.6m. Next come Mexico ($16.2m), France ($14.4m) and Australia ($9.7m). New market Brazil is already ahead of Germany ($6.6m) and Spain ($5.5m).
Sonic The Hedgehog 3 has now overtaken the $319.7m worldwide achieved by the first Sonic The Hedgehog film in cusp-of-pandemic February 2020. It is 83% of the way to matching the $405.4m lifetime total reached by Sonic The Hedgehog 2 in April 2022.
‘Nosferatu’ expands footprint – hits $100m worldwide
Focus Features’ Nosferatu expanded from five early international markets to 61 territories, posting estimated international box office totalling $26.8m. In North America, a 39% drop delivered estimated second-weekend takings of $13.2m. The combined numbers take the film globally to $100.4m after two weekends of play.
The drop in the international holdover markets – which include Spain and France – was just 24%.
Among fresh markets, UK/Ireland leads with an estimated five-day $6.6m. Mexico has an estimated $3.5m, while Italy has delivered $2.2m.
After two weekends of play, Spain has $3.2m and France $2.1m.
Nosferatu is already very convincingly the most-successful film directed by Robert Eggers – ahead of 2022’s The Northman ($69.6m lifetime globally), 2015’s The Witch ($40.4m) and 2019’s The Lighthouse ($18.1m)
Shot in the Czech Republic for a reported $50m production budget, Nosferatu looks on course to deliver a profitable outcome for Universal by the end of the theatrical run, even allowing for marketing costs and revenue splits with cinemas. Awards success could extend the film’s theatrical life, relative to the horror genre which traditionally sees fast burnout.
Next key market for Nosferatu is South Korea (January 15) with Japan to follow in May.
Also for Universal, Wicked added an estimated $21.0m globally at the weekend, bringing the total to $681.3m. Wicked remains the sixth-biggest 2024 release at the global box office, behind fifth-placed Dune: Part Two ($714.4m).
‘Paddington In Peru’ and ‘We Live In Time’ boosted by fresh openings
Outside Comscore’s worldwide top 10 weekend box office chart are two films boosted by key opening markets at the weekend.
Studiocanal launched John Crowley’s We Live In Time in UK/Ireland, grossing an estimated £2.9m ($3.6m) across its first five days. Previously, the Andrew Garfield/Florence Pugh romantic drama had reached $24.7m in North America, plus $7.5m from early international markets.
Studiocanal also launched Paddington In Peru in Australia, grossing Aus$4.7m ($2.9m) including previews. Previously, this third film in the Paddington series had reached $51.2m worldwide.
Other films outside the weekend top 10 chart include A24’s Babygirl, which added an estimated $4.5m at the weekend in North America (dead level with the previous session), and has now reached $16.1m there after three weekends of play. The international component is all to come for the film.
Remaining in the top 10 chart is Searchlight’s A Complete Unknown, which added an estimated $8.1m in North America (dropping 31%), taking the total after two weekends to $41.7m. International is likewise all to come for James Mangold’s Bob Dylan drama.
The bottom half of the worldwide top 10 chart is dominated by a trio of Chinese films – crime drama Octopus With Broken Arms, self-empowerment tale Big World and romantic drama Honey Money Phony – plus also Russian fantasy adventure Finist. The First Warrior.
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