mufasa flight brutal

Source: Disney / Lionsgate / Universal

‘Mufasa: The Lion King’, ‘Flight Risk’, ‘The Brutalist’

Worldwide box office: January 24-26

RankFilm (distributor)3-day (world)Cume (world)3-day (int’l)Cume (int’l)Territories
1.  Mufasa: The Lion King (Disney)  $24.1m  $626.7m  $15.4m  $405.6m   53
2.   Flight Risk (various)  $16.2m  $16.2m  $4.2m  $4.2m  40
3.   Sonic The Hedgehog 3 (Paramount)  $16.1m  $446.6m  $10.6m  $220.5m  65
4.   Moana 2 (Disney)  $10.1m  $1.03bn  $5.8m  $576m  53
5.   One Of Them Days (Sony)  $8m  $25.1m  -  -  3
6.   A Complete Unknown (Disney)  $8m  $74.2m  $4.9m  $11.3m  13
7.   Wolf Man (Universal)  $7m  $27.7m  $3.6m  $9.9m  76
8.   Octopus With Broken Arms (various)  $6.8m  $124.6m  $6.8m  $124.4m  7
9.   Paddington In Peru (various)  $6.3m  $83m  $6.3m  $83m  43
10.   Nosferatu (Universal)  $6.2m  $166.4m  $4.2m  $73.2m  66

Credit: Comscore. All figures are estimates.

Mufasa stands in spotlight; Moana hits $1bn

Disney’s Mufasa: The Lion King held the global box office crown for an impressive sixth consecutive weekend. The CGI blockbuster added $24.1m around the world, dropping just 24.2% on its previous session and topping the $600m mark with a $626.7m cume.

In international territories, it added $15.4m and has $405.6m – down on the $1.1bn international cume of 2019’s The Lion King, but still a strong total.

It is now the seventh-highest-grossing 2024 release. Strongest holds this session came in Spain (+4%), UK-Ireland (-18%), France (-21%) and Brazil (-26%); and it remained the number one non-local film in France, Germany, Spain, Brazil and Latin America, as well as many smaller markets.

Disney stablemate Moana 2 became the 56th film ever to hit coveted $1bn mark, adding $10.1m worldwide including $5.8m internationally. It has $576m in total from international markets, well ahead of the $394.6m international takings of 2016’s Moana.

The animation is the third-highest-grossing release of 2024 around the world, with Disney holding the top three spots with Inside Out 2 ($1.7bn) and Deadpool & Wolverine ($1.3bn).

Risk-y business

Mel Gibson’s action drama Flight Risk opened to $16.2m around the world from 40 markets, just holding off the $16.1m of Sonic The Hedgehog 3’s latest weekend.

Flight Risk made $4.2m in international markets. Lionsgate handles North American and UK-Ireland distribution, with further distributors including Metropolitan Filmexport (France), Tobis (Germany) and Diamond (Spain).

It stars Mark Wahlberg, Michelle Dockery and Topher Grace, in the story of a pilot transporting an air marshal accompanying a fugitive to trial; on a flight where not everyone is what they seem.

How does it feel?

An expansion from two to 13 territories helped Disney’s Searchlight Pictures title A Complete Unknown move up from 10th to sixth in the global chart. It retained top spot in the UK and Ireland, with strong openings in Italy and Australia.

It added $8m worldwide, of which $4.9m came from international sites; and has $74.2m total, of which $11.3m is international.

Timothée Chalamet stars in the story of Bob Dylan’s early career and creation of hits including ‘Blowin’ In The Wind’ and ‘Like A Rolling Stone’. Monica Barbaro plays Joan Baez with Edward Norton as Pete Seeger, with the trio all receiving Oscar nominations this week for their portrayals of the folk music icons; and a best director nomination for James Mangold. A Complete Unknown still has some way to go to reach the $186.8m of Mangold’s previous music biopic, 2005’s Oscar-winning Walk The Line about Johnny Cash.

Brutal beginnings

Awards contender The Brutalist opened in its first nine international markets with a strong $2.2m – more than double the takings of recent award-winners Anatomy Of A Fall, The Zone of Interest and Triangle Of Sadness in the same markets.

The top market was UK-Ireland with $838,000 including previews; while Spain put up a strong $796,000 and Australia scored $353,000.

Adrien Brody stars as a Hungarian architect who flees the Second World War in Europe for the United States – where he meets a manipulative benefactor who wants him to build a huge project.

The second weekend of Universal horror Wolf Man added $7m, of which $3.6m came from international markets; for a $27.7m total, including $9.9m internationally.

Mexico formed the top opening market this weekend with $0.9m, above comparative titles Speak No Evil, Us, The Substance and Heretic.

A second Universal horror, Robert Eggers’ Nosferatu, put on $6.2m worldwide including $4.2m internationally; for $166.4m total including $73.2m outside North America. It has grossed more than the combined totals of all three of Eggers’ previous films, 2015’s The VVitch ($40.2m), 2019’s The Lighthouse ($18.1m) and 2022’s The Northman ($69.6m).

Nosferatu has received five Bafta and four Oscar nominations in the last fortnight, that Universal will hope to push further takings across the market. It is now Universal’s highest-grossing horror title ever in the UK and Ireland with £11.8m.

Further Universal awards contenders in cinemas include Wicked, which added $4.9m for a $717m worldwide total; and Anora, which topped up $491,000 internationally, pushed by a strong Brazil opening, for an $11.8m international total.

Investigators begin

Sony scored a number one in Germany with family-friendly adventure The Three Investigators - Carpathian Dog. The film took $2.6m in the territory including previews, and made $3m from four international markets this weekend. 

Based on the bestselling The Three Investigators book series, Carpathian Dog is a sequel to 2023’s Legacy of the Dragon, which made $15.9m as Germany’s second highest-grossing local language production of that year.