The Lion King overtakes Sonic to rule the box office in its third weekend

“Mufasa: The Lion King” has spent its run at the box office in second place behind “Sonic the Hedgehog 3” so far, but Disney's photo-realistic animated adventure has kicked off 2025 with a bang, finally claiming the No. 1 spot in its third entry. weekend. Per A wrap“Mufasa” is on pace to add $24 million to its domestic total for the first weekend of the year, while “Sonic the Hedgehog” is close behind with an estimated $20.7 million.

Although it started off with a disappointing $35 million opening weekend, “Mufasa: The Lion King” has since done solid business at the box office. Instead of the typical second weekend drop, it had a second weekend to obtainwhich earned $36.8 million in its post-holiday, pre-New Year's weekend window. “Sonic the Hedgehog 3,” which beat out “Mufasa” when the two films first opened side by side.dropped 38% and barely held onto the top spot last weekend. Both films will cross the $400 million mark at the global box office this weekend, and Sonic 3 will set a new franchise record.

Directed by Barry Jenkins (“Moonlight”), Mufasa is a prequel to Jon Favreau's live-action(ish) remake of The Lion King, but otherwise tells an original story with new songs by Disney favorite Lin-Manuel Miranda. While “Mufasa” won't match 2019's “The Lion King”'s astonishing $1.6 billion haul, it no longer looks destined to be a total box office disaster — and January has worked wonders for family movies before.