The box office race between Disney prequel “Mufasa: The Lion King” and Paramount sequel “Sonic the Hedgehog 3” has only just begun, but it’s not too early to call a winner. With opening weekend estimates in for both movies, “Sonic 3” is on track for first place with a $70.5 million debut, and “Mufasa” is trailing in a distant second place with $35 million, per The Wrap.
Widening the gap even further is the fact that “Sonic the Hedgehog 3” was made for a relatively conservative budget of $122 million, while “Mufasa: The Lion King” cost north of $200 million. Directed by Barry Jenkins, the Disney movie was put into production following the success of Jon Favreau’s 2019 “live-action” remake “The Lion King,” which retold the story of the animated classic using near-photorealistic lions. Though “The Lion King” 2019 was a box office hit — grossing $191 million in its opening weekend, and more than $1.66 billion globally by the end of its theatrical run — reviews were very mixed and the movie failed to leave much of a cultural impact. It’s not too much of a surprise that “Mufasa” has fallen short of the already-low projections for a $55-65 million opening.
Paramount learned the lesson early on with its “Sonic the Hedgehog” movie franchise that more “realistic”-looking animation isn’t necessarily better. The backlash to the initial trailer for the first film in the series was so extreme that it led to a hasty redesign of Sonic to make him more closely resemble his cartoonish appearance in the video games. Since that early speedbump, though, the movies have been steady earners, and “Sonic 3” is just slightly behind the $72.1 million opening weekend for 2022’s “Sonic the Hedgehog 2.”
Sonic the Hedgehog 3 is a winner with critics and audiences alike
This weekend marks a real reversal of fortunes between the two family-friendly franchises. 2020’s “Sonic the Hedgehog,” released about a month before COVID-19 triggered lockdowns across the United States, grossed $58 million in its opening weekend and around $320 million worldwide by the end of its theatrical run: a good result, but not a blowout success. But it earned decent enough reviews and, perhaps more importantly, an A CinemaScore from opening day audiences.
“Sonic the Hedgehog 3” has the best reviews of the series so far, with a score of 86% on Rotten Tomatoes as of this writing (check out /Film’s review here). It has also matched the A CinemaScore of the previous two movies. The movie benefits from the introduction of antagonist Shadow the Hedgehog, voiced by Keanu Reeves, who joins a voice cast that also includes Ben Schwartz as Sonic, Idris Elba as Knuckles, and Colleen O’Shaughnessey as Tails.
“Mufasa: The Lion King,” meanwhile, earned an A- CinemaScore, down from the A grade of the 2019 live-action remake, and far below the A+ score given to the 1994 animated original. Reviews for “Mufasa” are similarly unenthusiastic, giving it a Rotten Tomatoes rating of 58%. The movie could still get a boost from the Christmas box office next week, but the chances of Disney greenlighting a live-action remake of “The Lion King II: Simba’s Pride” are looking slim.
