The Walt Disney Co.’s film, “Mufasa: The Lion King,” secured the top spot on the North American box office charts during the initial weekend of 2025. The photorealistic prequel to “The Lion King” garnered $23.8 million in its third weekend, as per studio estimates on Sunday. Paramount’s “Sonic the Hedgehog 3,” which had dominated the preceding two weekends, closely followed suit. “Sonic 3” maintained its momentum with a 3-day estimate of $21.2 million, pushing its total domestic earnings to $187.5 million and contributing to the franchise’s overall worldwide earnings crossing the $1 billion mark. Meanwhile, “Mufasa” has accumulated a total of $169.2 million thus far.
In third place, Focus Features’ remake of “Nosferatu” defied the trend observed among many films in the horror genre by only experiencing a 39% decline in its second weekend. Typically, horror films witness significant drops in attendance post their opening weekend, and anything less than a 50% decline is considered noteworthy. “Nosferatu,” which expanded to 140 additional screens, raked in $13.2 million in ticket sales, elevating its total earnings to $69.4 million since premiering around Christmas. Directed by Robert Eggers, the film has already surpassed its reported production budget of $50 million, although this figure does not encompass marketing and promotional costs.
The weekend saw no new wide releases hitting theaters, allowing the top 10 box office positions to be once again dominated by holdovers from previous weeks, with several having been in cinemas since Thanksgiving. Among these, “Moana 2” clinched the fourth spot for Disney in its sixth weekend, adding another $12.4 million to its global total, which now stands at $960.5 million.
The biopic “A Complete Unknown” centered on Bob Dylan experienced a slight dip in its second weekend, amassing $8.1 million. With total earnings of $41.7 million, it stands as Searchlight’s highest-grossing film since being acquired by Disney in 2019. A24’s erotic drama “Babygirl,” which expanded to 49 more locations, retained its position with $4.5 million in box office receipts.
Another Thanksgiving holdover, the movie musical “Wicked,” rounded out the top five positions. Despite being available for purchase on video-on-demand since January 31, the film managed to earn an additional $10.2 million from theaters. “Wicked” has garnered several award nominations at the upcoming Golden Globes, including nods for Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande, best motion picture musical or comedy, and “cinematic and box office achievement,” an accolade that was bestowed upon “Barbie” in the previous year.
