“One of Them Days ”narrowly beats “Mufasa ”for the top spot at the MLK weekend box office

One of Them Days, your day has come.

The Keke Palmer/SZA buddy comedy narrowly prevailed over the Disney live-action prequel Mufasa: The Lion King at the Martin Luther King Jr. weekend box office. The Sony Pictures film, produced by Issa Rae and written by Syreeta Singleton (Rap Sh!t), opened to $11.6 million and is expected to reach $14 million by the end of the four-day weekend. Barry Jenkins' big pivot to studio franchise filmmaking came in just behind, at $11.5 million, anticipating an even $12 million for the full holiday.

While the triumph of an original buddy comedy starring, written, and produced by Black women is certainly something to celebrate, the overall picture at the box office this weekend is grim. MLK weekend is traditionally seen as the official commencement of the moviegoing year, with totals expected around $150 million. 2025's total are estimated around $77 million.

Related: Den of Thieves sequel steals the top spot from Mufasa at the weekend box office

Not even Wolf Man, Blumhouse and Universal's next reimagining of a classic-era monster after 2020's Invisible Man, could scare up a decent weekend return. The Leigh Whannell-directed shocker starring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner came in at third with only $10.5 million. Compare that to the $28 million that Invisible Man earned during its premiere weekend.

Sonic the Hedgehog 3, in its fifth week in theaters like Mufasa, rounds out the top 5. The sneakered speedster earned $8.6 million, making for a cumulative domestic total of $216.5 million. While Mufasa may have earned the advantage this weekend, cumulatively, it falls behind Sonic with a $206 million domestic total. In the fifth spot is Den of Thieves 2: Pantera, which adds $6.6 million this weekend for a $26 million domestic cumulative gross.

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The rest of the top 10 are familiar faces, with the newest titles already in their fourth week of release. In the sixth and seventh spots are Moana 2 and Nosferatu, in their eighth and fourth weeks of release with $6 million and $4.3 million weekend grosses, respectively. Following that are the Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown in eighth, with $3.8 million; the Broadway adaptation Wicked, with $3.5 (not bad for a film in its ninth week of release); A24's erotic drama Babygirl, with $2 million (not bad for a provocative indie on half the screens as the rest of its competition).

This weekend's global and international box office reports tell very different stories, though they aren't much sunnier.

The films with the top domestic cumulatives make up the top two spots on this weekend's global and international leaderboards. Mufasa maintains its lead by a wide margin by grossing $20.3 million internationally and $31.8 million globally, making for a $382 million international and $588 million cumulative global gross. Sonic, meanwhile, earned $15.2 million internationally and $23.8 million globally, bringing its cumulative totals to $203.5 million internationally and $420 million globally.

One of Them Days was able to hold its ground on the international and global charts, but fell short of the top 5 with its $11.6 million gross. That's extremely impressive given it only played in a single territory (compare to Nosferatu in 66 different markets). It was edged out of the top spots by Wolf Man at No. 3, with $4.8 million internationally and $15.4 million globally; Moana 2 ($8 million international, $14 million global); and Nosferatu ($7.6 million International, $12 million global).

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There's no question as to the current world champ. Moana 2 currently boasts $567 million at the international box office, and globally, the sequel to Disney's Polynesian island-hopping adventure crossed the billion-dollar mark this weekend, with $1.01 billion.

Dig into the weekend's premieres at the global and international box offices that didn't make the top 10, and some interesting stories arise. Paddington in Peru, which doesn't open Stateside until Valentine's Day, earned $6.2 million in 34 markets, 23 of them new. Its international box office currently sits at $72.8 million, making for a stronger global opening than 2017's Paddington 2.

A Complete Unknown opened at No. 11 in the U.K. this weekend, bringing its global cumulative total to $60.5 million, quite strong for a musical biopic. Finally, Sean Baker's Cannes winner and Oscar contender Anora opened across Latin America this weekend, grossing $0.6 million, bringing its cumulative to $11.1 million. It may not sound like much, but it surpasses comparable indies like Licorice Pizza, The Square, and even Baker's sophomore feature, The Florida Project.

No major releases threaten the ongoing dominance of Mufasa and Sonic 3 next weekend. But smaller-scale films like One of Them Days have reason to fear the competition of titles like Steven Soderbergh's haunted house POV film Presence, the espionage thriller Inheritance, and Mel Gibson's Mark Wahlberg-starrer Flight Risk.

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