Box Office Round-Up ~ 12/24/24

By: [email protected] on

The final weekend before Christmas saw a hedgehog outrun a lion, as Sonic the Hedgehog 3 ($60.1 million) beat Mufasa: The Lion King ($35.4 million) in their mutual opening weekend at the box office.

It’s a disappointment for Disney, who may have to settle for just three billion-dollar hits in 2024, but a big success for Paramount and the Sonic the Hedgehog, which is now three movies and a limited series deep with more of both likely on the way. It’s all the more impressive that the franchise A) is based on a video game, which are notoriously hard to adapt into critically and/or commercially successful features, and B) has been released entirely during and after COVID, when theaters have struggled to bring in and keep audiences.

Wicked and Moana 2 moved to third and fourth place with a respective $14.1 million and $13.2 million. Both films cleared $350 million overall domestically, locking them in as the third and fourth highest grossing movies of the year (giving the aforementioned Disney three of the top four biggest hits of 2024).

Coming in fifth place, Angel Studios’ post-apocalypse drama Homestead debuted with a decent $6 million. The year will conclude with several Christmas Day premieres, including A Complete Unknown, starring Timothée Chalamet as Bob Dylan, and Nosferatu from writer/director Robert Eggers (The Lighthouse, The Northman).

1.  Sonic the Hedgehog 3 ($60.1 MM)
Director: Jeff Fowler (WME)
Writers: Pat Casey (CAA), Josh Miller (CAA), John Whittington (Verve)
Cast: Jim Carrey (WME)
      Ben Schwartz (CAA)
Keanu Reeves (WME) 

2.  Mufasa: The Lion King ($35.4 MM)
Director: Barry Jenkins (CAA)
Writers: Jeff Nathanson (UTA)
Cast: Aaron Pierre (WME)
        Kelvin Harrison Jr. (WME)
      Tiffany Boone (CAA)

3.  Wicked ($14.1 MM)
Director: Jon M. Chu (UTA)
Writers: Winnie Holzman (CAA), Dana Fox (UTA)
Cast: Cynthia Erivo (UTA)
        Ariana Grande (CAA)
      Jeff Goldblum (CAA)

4.  Moana 2 ($13.2 MM)
Director: David G. Derrick Jr., Jason Hand, Dana Ledoux Miller (UTA)
Writers: Jared Bush, Dana Ledoux Miller (UTA), Bek Smith (Verve), Bryson Chun (Verve)
Cast: Auli'i Cravalho (Gersh)
        Dwayne Johnson (WME)
      Hualalai Chung

5.  Homestead ($6 MM)
Director: Ben Smallbone
Writers: Phillip Abraham (Park Noack Agency), Leah Bateman (Coast to Coast Talent Group), Jason Ross
Cast: Dawn Olivieri (TalentWorks)
      Neal McDonough (WME)
Susan Misner (TalentWorks)

Source: Box Office Mojo, The Numbers