‘Lion King’ prequel falls prey to ‘Sonic’ at the box office
LOS ANGELES — Disney’s mighty Mufasa … eaten alive by a hedgehog?
“Sonic the Hedgehog 3,” directed by Jeff Fowler, arrived in North American theaters as an instant hit: The adventure comedy collected roughly $62 million in its first weekend in theaters, according to Comscore, which compiles box office data. (Analysts had estimated Saturday morning that “Sonic 3” could go as high as $70 million, but demand softened a bit as the weekend went on.)
The PG-rated sequel to a sequel cost Paramount Pictures about $122 million to make, not including marketing costs. Ticket buyers gave “Sonic 3” an A grade in CinemaScore exit polls, and reviews were mostly positive, setting up the fuzzy blue speedball for strong word of mouth among families over the Christmas holiday.
In second place, “Mufasa: The Lion King,” a photorealistic “Lion King” prequel, collected around $35 million — about 30% less than Disney had expected. “Mufasa,” which cost more than $200 million to make, not including marketing, received an A-minus grade in CinemaScore exit polls. Reviews were weak.
Adding to the humiliation for Disney, “Mufasa” had a wider release than “Sonic 3” did — 4,100 theaters compared with 3,761. Moreover, “Mufasa” was booked at 400 IMAX theaters, where tickets sell for a premium price. “Sonic 3” was not shown in any IMAX locations.
“Mufasa” was directed by Barry Jenkins (“Moonlight”) and features original songs by Lin-Manuel Miranda. Disney expects the movie to make up ground in North America over the Christmas holiday, which is traditionally the busiest time of year for theaters. Disney cited strong exit-poll scores from families (five out of five stars) in PostTrak exit polls and other positive audience feedback as boding well.
“With kids going on school break on Monday, the picture should have a very good run,” said David A. Gross, a film consultant who publishes a newsletter on box office numbers.
One comparison that Disney was using over the weekend: “Wonka,” released last December by Warner Bros., arrived to $39 million in domestic ticket sales and ultimately chugged away to a healthy $219 million. (The production budget for “Wonka,” however, was about 40% less.)
Disney noted that “Mufasa” has collected an additional $87 million in release overseas.
Prequels are harder to market than sequels: Why rush out to find out how a story starts when you already know how it ends?
But “Mufasa” is not just any prequel.
“This is a ‘Lion King’ prequel!” Anthony D’Alessandro, a box office reporter at Deadline, a trade news site, wrote Saturday. “Lion King is an AAA brand.”
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
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