‘Mufasa’ & ‘Nosferatu’ Bite Back At ‘Sonic’ On Christmas; Lion King Prequel Poised To Win Holiday Stretch – Box Office Update

THURSDAY UPDATE: Mufasa may have entered this holiday season as a lamb, but he remembered who he was on Christmas Day, as Disney’s Lion King prequel rebounded at the box office with $14.7M to Sonic the Hedgehog 3’s $10.3M. But the critter wasn’t just buried by the king of the jungle, but an arthouse bloodsucking vampire in Focus Feature’s first day of Nosferatu which did $11.55M.

Thanks to fierce competition, we’re bound to see a wealthier 5-day stretch than imagined. While Disney sees Mufasa as $50M+ from Wednesday to Sunday, now some have the outlook north of $80M with Sonic the Hedgehog 3 settling at $50M+. Disney saw presales that indicated that Mufasa was bound to win Christmas Day, however, the depression which this prequel endured in its opening weekend made that hard to believe.

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Other highlights from a Christmas which racked up $62M, a 148% surge over Christmas Eve:

Searchlight’s A Complete Unknown did $7.2M yesterday in fourth including $1.4M previews.

Universal’s Wicked made $5.4M yesterday while Disney’s Moana 2 did $4.2M. Their outlook over 5 days is around $26M for the singing witches, and close to $20M for the animated sequel.

A24’s Babygirl did $1.5M in 7th for the day. Amazon MGM Studios’ The Fire Inside grossed $1.68M in 8th place yesterday ($430K of that is from Tuesday night previews).

The adult stuff is also bound to rally with Nosferatu seeing a potential and amazing $42M off a B- CinemaScore. Even at a $23M 3-day, that’s easily Robert Eggers’ best opening ever, well north of The Northman ($12.2M). James Mangold’s A Complete Unknown starring Timothee Chalamet looks to rock to $25M+ off a great A CinemaScore. Mangold’s Walk the Line also received an A. Babygirl is still seeing $7M over 5 days off a B- while The Fire Inside with an A CinemaScore is eyeing $6M.

Nosferatu had the top grossing engagement in the country on Christmas Day at Lincoln Square with $57.5K with eight out of the top ten engagements in the country for the Lily Rose Depp, Bill Skarsgard and Nicholas Hoult horror film.  Nosferatu was 55% men, with 56% between 18-34, 43% of the audience 35+ years old with the largest quad being the 25-34 at 34%. Diversity demos were 53% Caucasian, 29% Latino and Hispanic, 8% Black, and 4% Asian. Some PLF and Imax screens are contributing 14% of the gross. The West is the best for the vampire movie.

A Complete Unknown gets 93% positive, 76% definite recommend with older women coming out for Chalamet at 56%. While 36% of the audience were 18-34, a massive 62% of the audience was over 35 with the largest demo being over 55 at 40%. Diversity demos were 78% Caucasian, 8% Latino and Hipsanic, 3% Black, 4% Asan. The Bob Dylan movie is playing best in the East, Midwest and West with AMC Lincoln Square the pic’s best grossing venue so far with $34K.

Babygirl is 67% positive with PostTrak audience and a low 38% definite recommend. Women outnumbered men, 53% to 47% with 15% of the audience between 18-24 years old, 40% of the audience between 25-34 years old and 44% of the audience 35+ years old with the largest quad being 25-34 at 40%. Diversity demos were 55% Caucasian, 13% Latino and Hispanic, 17% Black, 8% Asian, and 7% other. The movie is playing best on the coasts with the Alamo Brooklyn the pic’s top theater with $15K and counting.

The Fire Inside gets an 86% positive and 62% definite recommend from audiences. 51% female with 5% of the audience between 13-17 years old, 16% of the audience between 18-24 years old, and 51% of the audience 35+ years old with the largest demo being 25-34 at 28%. Diversity mix is 52% Caucasian, 32% Black, 6% Asian, and 5% Latino and Hispanic. Best markets for the Rachel Morrison directed movie is the South, South Central and Midwest with the NCG Trillium Cinema in Michigan the movie’s top grossing theater with $8k.

WEDNESDAY UPDATE: The Christmas Eve box office at $25M was off 19% from Monday’s $30.9M gross, but the good news is that the moviegoing off-day was ahead of last year’s — which fell on a Sunday, the worst scenario possible for the industry — by 34% at $18.6M. Turnstiles are about to spin out of control starting tonight for the next week and a half.

The fresh news was that Searchlight’s previews for James Mangold’s Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown were off to a solid start with $1.4M on its way to an expected $15M 5-day start at 2,835 locations including Imax on January 3. Previews for the Timothée Chalamet starrer began at 2 p.m. Thursday, but that number also includes limited Alamo Drafthouse previews.

The 3x Golden Globe-nominated movie cost $60M-$70M, before P&A, , we hear, an escalated budget due to ramping up post-strike. Tuesday’s Christmas Eve previews are apples to oranges to previous music biopics that played on Thursdays during the summer, but for reference, Paramount’s Elton John movie Rocketman did $2.3M ($25.7M opening) in May 2019, while Warner Bros’ Elvis posted $3.5M ($31.2M) during June 2022. A Complete Unknown is winning over audiences with a 96% grade on Rotten Tomatoes.

RELATED: ‘A Complete Unknown’ Review: Timothée Chalamet Astonishes As Young Bob Dylan In James Mangold’s Thrilling Musical Drama

Paramount’s Sonic the Hedgehog 3 led the day with $7.5M to Disney’s Mufasa: The Lion King, which starting closing the gap at $7.1M.

Top 5 for the day went down as follows:

1. ) Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (Par) 3,761 theaters, Tue $7.5M (-25% from Monday), Total $77.6M/Wk 1

2.) Mufasa: The Lion King (Dis) 4,100 theaters, Tue $7.1M (+1%), Total $49.6M/Wk 1

3.) Wicked (Uni) 3,296 theaters, Tue $3.2M (-31%), Total $392.4M/Wk 5

4.) Moana 2 (Dis) 3,600 theaters Tue $3M (-28%), Total $366.3M/Wk 4

5.) Gladiator II (Par) 2,397 theaters, Tue $955K (-18%), Total $156.1M/Wk 5

RELATED: ‘A Complete Unknown’ Director James Mangold, Timothée Chalamet & Cast Reveal How They Recreated The “Fable” & “Mystery” Of Dylan

We’ll update when we get previews from Amazon MGM’s The Fire Inside. A24’s Babygirl didn’t hold previews Tuesday. Both of those titles are eyeing single-digit-million openings over the Wednesday-through-Sunday period. Focus Features’ Nosferatu only held a limited number of Imax and 35MM previews last night; that Robert Eggers’ directed horror film is eyeing a $25M 5-day debut. Current RT audience score on Nosferatu is 80%.

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