“Mufasa” leads first weekend of 2025 with $24 million

SATURDAY AM: The first weekend of 2025 – which sources have described as a “normal year” – is shaping up with a widely estimated total of $105 million for all films, which is certainly +22% better than the first weekend of 2024 which grossed $85.9 million per Box Office Mojo.

The first weekend currently ranks second on a post-Covid basis after that of 2023 when the continued success of Avatar: the path with water And ME3AN delivered a $106.2 million deal. To be determined whether Winter Storm Blair, which CNN is forecast to affect 62 million people from the Plains to the East Coast, becomes a problem. How does this figure compare to the movie-going public? By EntTelligence, Deadpool and Wolverine, the busiest weekend of 2024, with 13.6 million people.

However, we are far from the annual levels of the first weekends before Covid, that is to say 2016 where Star Wars: The Force Awakens in its third weekend, all films grossed $219.5 million (per Box Office Mojo). Or even in 2020, before we had any nervousness in the United States about the pandemic, when the first period of the year generated $142.4 million, led by Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.

Top 10

Notable:

SE7FR 30th anniversary (WB) 200 locations, Friday $399,000 3 days $1.056 million/Week 1

The Brutalist (A24) 8 rooms, Friday $79,000 (+27%) 3 days $255,000 (+21%) Total $1.1 millionweek 3
Brady Corbet’s three-hour epic is up for seven Golden Globes, including best dramatic feature film, best male dramatic actor (Adrien Brody), best supporting actor (Guy Pearce), supporting actress (Felicity Jones) and the director (Corbet). The $6 million indie film is posting strong numbers in New York, Los Angeles and Toronto in its one-theater expansion at the Alamo Brooklyn.

September 5 (By) 13 rooms (+8) Fri $20,000 (+220%), 3 days $66,000 (+192%), Total $298,000week 4
The thriller directed by Tim Fehlbaum is up for a Golden Globe this Sunday in the Best Drama Feature Film category.

better man (By) 6 rooms, Friday $8,000 (+57%), 3 days $26,000 (+41%), Total $88,000/Week 2
The film is up for a Golden Globe for the original song “Forbidden Road,” which the Academy deemed less original, removing it from its Oscar shortlist.

Interesting note about Nicole Kidman and Harris Dickinson’s naughty drama Little girl from A24: The film gets a B-CinemaScore and doesn’t generate much excitement from the start with a $1.5 million Christmas Day take. However, the film directed and written by Halina Reijn is holding up on a daily basis and is now looking at a solid position for its second weekend (+3% with $4.6M). What gives? Is it the magic of a saucer of milk? Some distribution sources claim that there is a difference between Christmas Day audiences and post-Christmas audiences, evident in the CinemaScore and the mini-legs the film shows. What is obvious is that the A24 word of mouth machine is active, which is only possible because people have seen the photo and create an intervention factor. Those who love it love it. Additionally, more upscale audiences have more choices this holiday season, which creates a desire to see all the titles, as well as Nosferatu And A complete stranger.

Although there were no wide releases this weekend, Vertical has acquired Tribeca, the horror film The damnedopening in 732 locations with approximately $325,000 last night, on the way to the surrounding area $860,000. Thordur Palsson’s feature debut centers on Eva (Odessa Young), a 19th-century widow who is tasked with making an impossible choice when a ship sinks off the coast of her isolated fishing outpost in the middle of a winter particularly cruel. As supplies run low, Eva and her close-knit community must choose between saving the shipwrecked crew or prioritizing their own survival. Faced with the consequences of their decision and tormented by guilt, the residents struggle with a growing sense of dread and begin to believe that they are all being punished for their choices. The film is 86% fresh with 35 reviews from Rotten Tomatoes. Sales are good in New York, Los Angeles, Fresno, Phoenix, San Francisco, Toronto, Sacramento and Orlando, they say.

Other miscellaneous. in 2024 because we didn’t have this information when we did our recap:

AMC was, of course, the number one movie theater chain in the United States, with over $2 billion and a 23% market share across 556 locations. Regal ranked second with $1.3 billion and a 15.3% market share at approximately 436 locations. Cinemark followed with $1.3 billion and a 14.9% share across 311 sites. Cineplex (Canada), Marcus, Harkins, Alamo, Landmark Canada, Santikos and Emagine complete the top 10 circuits of the year.

Los Angeles is the top movie market with $681.1 million (7.9%), followed by the New York region in second place with $559.7 million (6.5%), followed by Dallas (266 .3 million dollars – 3%), from San Francisco ($240.3 million – 2.8%). ) and Chicago ($234 million – 2.7%).

EntTelligence has updated its US and Canada admissions figure for 2024 from 680 million (through December 15) to 740 million.

FRIDAY AFTERNOON UPDATE: It’s a better first weekend of the year than last year with Disney’s Moufasa and Paramount Sonic the Hedgehog 3 continuing their struggle in their third images, $23 million to $24 million has 20 million dollars. As far as 3-day weekends go, this is the first #1 win for Moufasa. Sonic 3 won the first two 3-day weekends of its release, however, Moufasa was the #1 movie for the 5-day period of December 25-29 with $60.9 million.

The top five films are expected to gross nearly $78 million which is $22 million more than last year’s top five pictures, which came in at $56 million, meaning we’re in better shape, and that’s without any new headlines.

Moufasa is showing in 3,925 cinemas and will be released $168.7 million at the summit by Sunday. Sonic the Hedgehog 3 is booked on 3,746 sites and will reach a cumulative total of $186.3 million by Sunday, just $4.5 million short of becoming the highest-grossing title in the SEGA franchise, beating Sonic the Hedgehog 2That’s $190.8 million.

In third place is Focus Features’ second weekend from Robert Eggers. Nosferatu in 3,132 rooms with a $12.3 million 3 days, -43%, for a running race between now and Sunday $68.5 million. And that total is unnamed at the Golden Globes this weekend. However, the Lily-Rose Depp, Bill Skarsgard, Nicholas Hoult and Aaron Taylor-Johnson film is up for four Critics Choice Awards.

Disney’s Fourth is Sixth Weekend Moana 2 with 12 million dollars-37%, for a cumulative total of $424.7 million on 3,345 sites. Worldwide, the film is poised to surpass Despicable Me 4 worldwide total of $969 million, in addition to reaching the The billion dollar mark. The sequel is up for Best Animated Feature at the Golden Globes this Sunday.

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Fifth is Universal’s seventh weekend Wicked in 3,287 theaters with 3 days of $9.5 million-52%, for current consumption of 450 million dollars by Sunday. The title directed by Jon M. Chu was released on PVOD on December 31. Wicked is up for four Golden Globes this Sunday, including Best Musical/Comedy Feature Film, Best Comedy/Musical Actress Cynthia Erivo, Best Supporting Actress Ariana Grande and Best Cinematography and Box Office Achievement. office.

In sixth place is the Bob Dylan biopic directed by James Mangold of Searchlight, A complete stranger, with a second weekend of $7.5 million-36% to 2,835 with a cumulative total on Sunday $41.2 millionwhich will make it the highest-grossing Searchlight title following the 2019 Disney-Fox merger, surpassing The menu ($38.5 million).

As we previously reported, this weekend, in addition to October 31 and December 12, is one of three weekends in 2025 without a wide release.

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Last year, the top three films were from Warner Bros. Wonka ($14M fourth weekend), Universal/Blumhouse’s Night swimming (opening of $11.7 million) and Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom ($10.6 million).