How ‘Mufasa: The Lion King’ Became a Sleeper Hit

Mufasa has life in him after all.

“Mufasa: The Lion King,” a photorealistic prequel to “The Lion King,” arrived on a crawl at the Christmas box office, raking in a whopping $35 million in its first weekend in theaters, which is 30% less than what Disney had planned.

The company hoped that “Mufasa” would boost investor confidence in the turnaround of Walt Disney Studios. Instead, it has sparked a new worry: Perhaps the lucrative “Lion King” franchise (film and TV spinoffs, hit musical, theme park attractions, sales of countless Simbas in plush) was starting to slow down. After all, the franchise is 30 years old.

But “Mufasa,” which cost $200 million to make, has since become a sleeper hit. It was on pace to sell about $16.5 million in tickets between Friday and Monday, enough for No. 1, bringing its domestic total to about $211 million. This would propel the film into the top 10 at the box office for 2024. Globally, “Mufasa” has now been No. 1 for five consecutive weeks, and domestic and foreign ticket sales now total approximately $600 million.

Box office analysts estimated Saturday that “Mufasa” could add another $75 million to $100 million to its worldwide total by the end of its theatrical run.

Competition for family viewers likely hurt “Mufasa” when it debuted on Dec. 20. Other films aimed at the same audience include Disney’s “Sonic the Hedgehog 3,” “Wicked” and “Moana 2.” “Mufasa,” directed by Barry Jenkins, was the only prequel of the bunch, and prequels generally have a less urgent “need to see” to use Hollywood lingo: why rush to find out how a story begins when you already know how it takes place. ends?

But the competition has lessened. The only new films arriving this weekend were “One of Them Days,” a low-budget R-rated comedy, and “Wolf Man,” an R-rated horror film. The historical drama “September 5th,” which received very good reviews, was to be widely released on Friday. But after the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences pushed back Oscar nominations due to the Los Angeles fires, Paramount Pictures delayed the film’s release in hopes of securing nominations it could then use in advertisements. (A wide release for “September 5” is now planned for early February.)