(Bloomberg) — Sonic the Hedgehog 3, from Paramount Global’s film studio, was Hollywood’s highest grossing film last weekend with $60.1 million in ticket sales in the US and Canada. The results beat Walt Disney Co.’s Mufasa: The Lion King, which debuted to $35.4 million.
Sonic’s performance was below forecasts for at least $70 million in ticket sales from industry tracker Box Office Pro. Mufasa also underperformed with estimates going into the weekend of at least $50 million. Mufasa did better internationally, with an additional $87.2 million coming from those markets, according to Disney.
Paramount has been investing in its kids properties under co-Chief Executive Officer Brian Robbins. The two previous Sonic films, based on the Sega Corp. video-game franchise, have generated over $725 million combined at the box office and $180 million in home entertainment sales, according to the studio. Paramount is working on a fourth film in the series scheduled for 2027.
Mufasa’s second-place finish raises questions about the future of The Lion King franchise. The first picture in 1994 was part of a renaissance in Disney’s animation division and was adapted into a long-running Broadway musical, TV shows and video games. A 2019 version using photo-realistic animation grossed more than $1.66 billion worldwide.
The latest film is a prequel, telling the story of an orphaned lion who grows up to lead the pride. It scored just 57% approval among professional reviewers on RottenTomatoes.com, with one critic calling it “nothing more than two hours of pretty vistas.” Audiences scored it more highly.
The less-than-stellar opening for Mufasa pauses Disney’s winning streak, which has seen the studio put out a string of hits this year including Inside Out 2, Deadpool & Wolverine and Moana 2. This week, Disney is releasing A Complete Unknown, a Bob Dylan biopic from subsidiary Searchlight Pictures starring Timothee Chalamet as the famous American songwriter.
Year-to-date the domestic box office is down about 4% to $8.3 billion from the same period in 2023, according to data from Comscore Inc.
(Updates with final weekend totals.)
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