Paramount/Original Film’s “Sonic the Hedgehog 3” is out of stasis and in theaters, earning a solid $6.5 million from 3,200 theaters on Thursday night.
That’s slightly above the $6.3 million preview total that “Sonic the Hedgehog 2” opened to in April 2022. Carrying the largest budget yet for the video game adaptation series at a reported $122 million, “Sonic 3” is currently projected for a $60 million-plus opening weekend from 3,761 locations with a chance of opening in the vicinity of the $72 million opening of “Sonic 2”
“Sonic 3” heads into theaters with the strongest early reviews of the series, clocking in with an 88% Rotten Tomatoes critics score. With Keanu Reeves as Shadow the Hedgehog and more references to the Sega games than ever, the film is likely to be a winner with longtime fans that will make up the core of the opening weekend audience while it builds up word-of-mouth to draw families in during Christmas week and beyond.
Also opening on Thursday is Disney’s “Mufasa,” a prequel to the 2019 “Lion King” CGI remake that earned $3.3 million from 4,100 theaters. From a start like that, it is unlikely that “Mufasa” will be able to reach projections of a $50 million opening weekend, as past holiday releases like “Wonka” and “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” have earned openings in the range of $35-40 million from similar Thursday starts.
Still, as “Wonka” and “Into the Spider-Verse” later proved with their lengthy box office runs, a softer than expected opening isn’t necessarily a death sentence in December. Earlier in the week, presales for “Mufasa” tended to be stronger starting on Christmas Day.
Disney is banking on business picking up for “Mufasa” among families after this weekend, with overseas support from a portion of the moviegoers that turned out for the “Lion King” remake to the tune of $1.1 billion. “Mufasa” will have to draw that audience without the help of critics, who are as mixed on this prequel as they were on the remake with a 56% Rotten Tomatoes score.
More to come…
