Paramount’s Sonic the Hedgehog 3 posted $6.5M in previews Thursday night. That’s the official number from Paramount. Disney reports that Mufasa: The Lion King did $3.3M.
Those are the best previews ever for a Sonic the Hedgehog movie, ahead of the previous installment’s $5M Thursday and combined overall preview take of $6.25M. Sonic the Hedgehog 2 opened to $72.1M in 2022, the best so far of the series. Sonic the Hedgehog‘s previews were $3M back in February 2020; that movie opened just before the pandemic to $58M.
Sonic the Hedgehog 3 is expected to open to $60M, while Mufasa originally was forecast to be north of $50M. Don’t know if Mufasa will get there as its previews aren’t that far from Wonka ($3.5M), which did $39M last year, and 2018’s Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse ($3.5M, and $35.4M). The Barry Jenkins-directed prequel is booked at 4,100 theaters.
Critics are harder on Mufasa at 57% Rotten, while Sonic the Hedgehog 3 is at 88% fresh. There’s already an audience score for Sonic 3, and it’s a healthy 98%.
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Even if Mufasa comes up short this weekend, Disney is hopeful that business will bounce back from Christmas Day onward. Moviegoing traditionally has exploded on Christmas Day, as holiday distractions cease, and continued strong into New Year’s weekend. That said, this frame historically is the home of the mega Christmas tentpole, i.e. Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015), Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021) Avatar: The Way of Water (2022). Today Comscore reports that 13% of K-12 students are on break, while 81% colleges are off. This moves to 95% K-12 off on Monday and 94% colleges on break before near-100% levels from Christmas Eve though New Year’s Day.
Here is how the rest of the week went:
- Moana 2 (Dis) 4,000 theaters, Thu $1.8M, -9% from Wed, Wk $35M, Total $345.9M/Wk 3
- Wicked (Uni) 3,698 theaters, Thu $2.46M, -11% from Wed, Wk $33.8M, Total $370.4M/Wk 4
- Kraven the Hunter (Sony) 3,211 theaters, Thu $543K (-24%), Wk $14.3M/Wk 1
- Gladiator II (Par) 3,224 theaters Thu $802K (-12%), Wk $11.3M, Total $149.4M/Wk 4
- Interstellar (reissue) (Par) 321 theaters, Thu $144K (-89%), Wk $6.7M, Total $15.1M/Wk 2
