The American box office is still fueled by its big end-of-year 2024 releases. The proof: this weekend, Mufasa fucks a guy Wolf Man very disappointing.
In 2020, the Blumhouse studio, faithful to its philosophy of « high concept, low budget » (low budget, but a strong concept), had hit again very hard with Invisible Man. The rehabilitation of The Invisible Manrewarded with good reviews, grossed $144.4 million worldwide, although it only cost $7 million ! Another financial success for Jason Blum, but also for director Leigh Whannell, famous for having co-created the saga Sawwhich also broke profitability records in its early days.
Was he going to transform the essay with his version of Werewolf ? Coming from a more tumultuous production (Ryan Gosling was to make the film with Derek Cianfrance before Whannell returned behind the camera), Wolf Man was released on January 17 in the United States. Unfortunately, it has already been established that he will not experience the resounding success of his predecessor..
Wolf Man rushes into the wolf’s den
From January 17 to 20, distributor Universal tried to take advantage of a long American weekend. However, for his debut with Uncle Sam, Wolf Man does not place first or even second in the ranking. He is third, with an estimated $12 million in revenue over three days.. If we exclude the public holiday and stick to the weekend, it would be around $10.5 million. The film would have cost 25 million according to Varietysuffice to say that to reach the profitability threshold, it will have to maintain itself very well and convince internationally.
If we compare it to Invisible Manthe shower is freezing. Produced for approximately 3.5 times less, the 2020 film started in first position with 28.2 million dollars, well ahead of the first Sonicin the third week. Thanks to a limited drop in attendance (-46.3% in the second week), it reached 70 million at the domestic box office… before the closure of theaters stopped it in its tracks. Even without a global epidemic, Wolf Man is very far from the mark.
If we compare it to the Blumhouse releases of 2024, however, it is average. Speak No Evil had started with 11.3 million, Imaginary with 9.9 million and Night Swim with 11.7 million. As for Evil AIit was a flop with barely 3.6 million dollars for its start-up and 12.9 million in total. However, it must be remembered that all of these releases, which generated between $43.7 and $76.7 million worldwide, had a much more modest budget, ranging from $12 to $15 million. Wolf Man will have to do better.
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Mufasa takes the lion’s share
This big novelty did not worry Mufasawhich is still clinging to its throne after five weeks of operation. The prequel to Lion King stuffed animal version had nevertheless started in second place, far behind its competitor Sonic 3. But when the blue hedgehog went down to 4th place, he showed impressive poise. Since last week, it has only lost 18.9% of its revenue (over two days), so much so that it exceeded 200 million dollars in total.
The first results gave Sonic big winner of this digital fur duel, but it is clear that Mufasa is closing the gap. This weekend for example, it would have exceeded 15 million dollarsagainst 11 for his opponent. Not that the latter is unworthy: in this period that is stingy with mainstream blockbusters, it also holds its own. Moreover, this week, it only lost 24.3% of its revenues, although it was cut by 276 theaters. Knowing that at the global box office, Mufasa is well ahead with 591.9 million.
The podium is completed by the other novelty of the week, comedy One of Them Days. The film directed by Lawrence Lamont tells the story of the road trip of two roommates who realize that the boyfriend of one of them has squandered the rent money and who seek to avoid eviction. Probably helped by its prestigious casting made up of Keke Palmer (Nope, Queens) and pop star SZA, it would have reached $14 million in only 2,675 theaterswhich would guarantee him second place. Which is exactly its low budget. A good shot.
Finally, last information of the weekend: still in the race for 5th place after eight weeks on the bill, Vaiana 2 has just surpassed the symbolic milestone of a billion dollars at the global box office. It’s now official: the only three productions to have reached this score in 2024 are from Disney. The other two are Deadpool & Wolverine (1.3 billion) and Vice-versa 2currently the 8th biggest success in cinema history with almost 1.7 billion. To see if the studio will continue its domination in 2025 between Marvel, Snow White, Avatar 3 or even Zootopia 2.
