Box Office: ‘Sonic 3’ Speeds to $62 Million Debut, ‘Mufasa: The Lion King’ Gets Trampled With $35 Million

variety.com:

Rebecca Rubin Senior Film and Media Reporter “Sonic the Hedgehog 3” is powering to the top of box office charts while “Mufasa: The Lion King” is getting trampled in its first weekend of release.

Paramount’s third “Sonic” adventure has opened at No. 1 with $62 million from 3,761 North American theaters. Bolstered by positive reviews and strong audience scores, the film beat initial expectations of $55 million to $60 million and looks to remain a holiday hit through the new year. “Sonic the Hedgehog 3” was tracking for a trilogy-low start but instead opened above the original 2020 “Sonic the Hedgehog” ($58 million) and just below the 2022 sequel (a series-best $72 million).

Disney’s “The Lion King” prequel “Mufasa” was trotting behind in second place with $35 million from 4,100 cinemas, falling way behind pre-release expectations of $50 million.

It’s a terrible start for a tentpole that cost above $200 million to produce and roughly $100 million to promote across the global.