The movie Mufasa : The Roi Lion got off to a disappointing start at the French box office, but not as humiliating as that of Kraven: The Hunter which records the worst records.
If Disney were still struggling in 2023 (because of the failures of The Marvel, Wish, Indiana Jones 5 or even The Haunted Mansion), the big-eared company has regained momentum this year thanks to the triumphs of Deadpool & Wolverine et Vice-Versa 2 as well as the growing success of Vaiana 2.
Enough to turn a blind eye to the more lukewarm results of Planet of the Apes: The New Kingdomand catch up with those of Mufasa : The Roi Lion approaching disaster. This sequel-prequel to Jon Favreau's photorealistic remake, this time directed by Barry Jenkins, flopped violently at home with a start of 35 million dollars (compared to 191 million for The Lion King in 2019).
And it is clearly not in France that Simba's father will succeed in roaring, since he also made a disappointing start there given expectations.
THE LION DIED TONIGHT…
In 2019 (a boom year for Disney), The Lion King had attracted more than 3.2 million spectators in theaters for its start in France and had ended its French run with 10 million admissions. In comparison, Mufasa recorded only 890,062 entries for its launchwhich was however enough to regain first place on the podium.
When we compare with the theatrical debuts of other remakes and spin-offs from the company, Mufasa also finds a little honor: The Little Mermaid (582 814 entrées), Cruella (379 133 entrées), Aladdin (563 243 entrées), Dumbo (550 574 entrées), Maleficent 2 (786,485 entries). On the other hand, many have done much better, notably the first in the wave of live-action remakes: Beauty and the Beast (1.2 million entries), The Jungle Book (1.3 million entries), Alice in Wonderland (1.5 million entries).
If the remake fever is not about to die down at Disney – Snow White et Lilo & Stitch are on their way – we can cautiously put forward the idea that the public is perhaps starting to tire of this type of production. However, the studio can always count on Vaiana 2aka the unsinkable which for its fourth week in theaters brought in 653,552 additional admissionsbringing its total to 5.6 million entries.
With the help of the Christmas holidays, the sequel directed by David G. Derrick Jr. only suffered a 30% drop in attendance while still enjoying 1,170 copies (the highest distribution of the week). The film therefore has a small head start on the latest Disney sequel (and heavyweight) to date, Frozen 2which at the same stage of its operation recorded 5.1 million tickets sold.
…THE HUNTER TOO
The real organ descent of this end is that of Sony with The requirements The Hunterthe final nail in the coffin of Sony’s « Spider-Man » Universe. After a hellish start in North America, the nightmare continues in France with an arrival in 5th place in the ranking and 122,616 entries, i.e. less than Madame Web (207,894 entries) and much less than Morbius (403 848 entrées). The three parts of Venom being also far above, Marvel's hunter therefore had the worst start of the entire universe which has already announced its shelving.
If we want to continue the humiliation, the launch of The requirements is even worse than those of Shazam 2, The Flash, The Marvels, X-Men : Dark Phoenix and even Elektra, Fantastic Four (the three films), Green Lantern, Catwoman, Daredevil, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemenboth Batman of Schumacher, both Ghost Rider…
I promise, then we stop: same The New Mutantsthis obscure butchered Fox project taken over by Marvel and released during the pandemic at the height of the crisis did not fall so low. To find worse (and not much), we must rather look towards the forgotten Punisher of 2004, which however benefited neither from the budget nor from the number of copies of the film carried by Aaron Taylor-Johnson.
The fact is that the French public has massively turned away from this character unknown to the general public in favor of Disney and French comedies. A fanfare (3rd in the top with 189,544 additional entries for its fourth week of operation) and Under nuts (4th from the top with a start at 185,122 entries). The arrival of Sonic 3 in theaters should thus complete the already shaky exploitation of The requirementsand put a violent brake on that of Mufasa.
