“Wolf Man” vs. SZA and Keke Palmer’s “One of Them Days” in second

It’s one of those weekends at the box office, with two new releases battling it out in a closer race than expected. Sony’s friendly comedy, “One of Them Days,” comes in at the upper end of initial projections after earning $4.3 million at 2,675 locations during Friday screenings and previews. That puts it just behind Universal’s horror play “Wolf Man,” which grossed $4.4 million Friday and previews in 3,354 locations. But both features fall behind Disney’s “Mufasa: The Lion King,” which, after almost a full month of release, appears to be the main draw for moviegoers on a quiet Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend ..

For “One of Them Days,” which stars SZA and Keke Palmer as roommates looking for money to avoid eviction, the four-day debut now appears to be grossing more than $14 million. R-rated comedies are now everyone’s prime example of a genre that has virtually become a theatrical non-entity. With that in mind, Sony and co-financier Macro Film Studios kept costs low with a production budget of $14 million. Today, with terrific reviews and positive audience response (the pollster Cinema Score earned an A grade), the film is in a promising position to have some staying power and prove a box office success.

Meanwhile, R-rated “Wolf Man” is now eyeing $12 million through Monday — a fraction of what Blumhouse and director Leigh Whannell made with their previous horror property revamp “The Invisible Man” , which opened to $28 million (and it was a three-day opening) about a month before the 2020 COVID lockdowns.

As it stands, “Wolf Man” will release well beyond its projections for a $17 million debut. But, all things considered, it’s probably not worth too much alarm. As with the usual Blumhouse model, “Wolf Man” represented a fairly measured financial risk with a production cost of $25 million. But after this muted kickoff, the film will now have to contend with mediocre reviews and dismal word-of-mouth (a C grade from Cinema Score) to deliver a decent performance.

Disney’s “Mufasa: The Lion King” is poised to return to No. 1 after earning $2.5 million on Friday, representing a remarkably slim 13% drop from its daily total last week. Rivals expect $17 million over four days, well ahead of “Wolf Man” and “One of Them Days.” Now in its fifth weekend of release, the digitally rendered photorealistic prequel will surpass the $200 million mark domestic over the next two days. After a soft start but a strong holiday, it now ranks among the top 10 North American releases of 2024.

Paramount’s “Sonic the Hedgehog 3” is also keeping pace in the top five, taking in another $1.7 million Friday and expecting to reach a domestic total of $218 million after 31 days in theaters. The latest adventure of Sega’s iconic video game speedster is now the eighth highest-grossing North American release of 2024.

Finally, “Den of Thieves 2: Pantera” appears to be slipping to fifth place after opening at the top of the domestic charts last weekend. Lionsgate’s Euro-hangout heist thriller is forecasting an estimated $7.4 million over three days, which would be a 50% drop from its opening. The national total is expected to exceed $28 million during the MLK holiday. That’s a bit behind the first “Den of Thieves,” which grossed $29 million in its first 11 days of release in 2018.