Weekend Box Office: Den of Thieves 2: Pantera Scores a Win for Lionsgate

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Last week hardly felt like the start of 2025. Then again very rarely does the month of January get a launch that really kicks off the hope for a tremendous year. We are still adding money to some of those 2024 releases as the overall grosses inches forward on the $470+ million gap that came with a strike and fewer titles on the calendar. We won’t look too hard on this year not fueling the thrill of the comeback just yet, though one studio can walk away this weekend putting a much needed win in their column.

**King of the Crop: Den of Thieves 2: Pantera Scores a Win for Lionsgate**

2024 was a pretty dire year for Lionsgate, as documented in this column. Only two films, The Strangers: Chapter 1 and The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, opened to over $10 million, and the latter was their top grossing film with $40 million domestic. The previous year at least had John Wick: Chapter 4 and The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. The latter again was the last time one of their films led the box office. Until this weekend, that is. Den of Thieves 2: Pantera opened shop with $15.5 million, slightly better (if the estimates hold) than the mid-January 2018 opening of the original ($15.2 million), which was released by STX Entertainment, which sold off the bulk of their remaining titles back in 2022.

Pantera, a film originally grabbed by Briarcliff but later acquired by the Gate, was made for a cost of $40 million, so whoever is still holding the bills on this one won’t be too thrilled unless its international setting sparks some overseas sales. The first film made just $35.5 million to bring its global total to $80 million, a little hit at a cost of $30 million. Pantera is going to have to get over that nine-digit hill to turn a profit this time. Critics are more engaged this time, at least. Last January, The Beekeeper with Jason Statham opened to $16.5 million from Fri-Sun over the MLK holiday.

**Rotten Returns: Better Man Flails**

Michael Gracey’s Robbie Williams-as-a-chimpanzee biopic, Better Man, made just $1 million in 1,289 theaters for only a $775 per-theater average. According to reports, the film was produced for roughly $110 million. Paramount acquired the film for $25 million, but this is no Rocketman and certainly no Bohemian Rhapsody. It’s not even last year’s Amy Winehouse tale, Back to Black, which had a domestic run of $6.1 million and a better $44.8 million internationally. At least Williams is better known across the pond. Oh wait, it has only made another $4.7 million.

**The Top 10 and Beyond: Mufasa, Sonic, and Moana Continue to Hang On**

Back down to the No. 2 slot goes Mufasa: The Lion King, not far behind with $13.2 million. That brings its 24-day total to $188.7 million, but the bigger milestone is crossing the half-billion line worldwide. It became the ninth film of 2024 to achieve that and is Disney’s eighth film to do it in the past three years. Mufasa’s domestic pace is slightly higher than that of the studio’s National Treasure: Book of Secrets ($187.1 million 24-day total), while its fourth weekend is below that of Sing ($14.24 million). That gives it a domestic landing spot somewhere between $225-245 million. That’s less than half of the 2019 CGI remake of The Lion King and closer to a billion less worldwide when all is said and done, but this is still another win for the House of Mouse with a global haul of over $539 million to date.

Paramount’s Sonic the Hedgehog 3 may be continuing to lose the week-by-week battle to Mufasa, but not by enough to relinquish its overall lead on the domestic side. Another $11 million this weekend brings its 24-day total to $204.5 million. That makes it the 21st December release to gross over $200 million in that timeframe. Its fourth weekend is also in line with the aforementioned National Treasure: Book of Secrets ($11.3 million). That is going to put it on a collision course with Mufasa to the finish line as it is also headed towards the $235-245 million range. The film is Paramount’s highest-grossing domestic release since Top Gun: Maverick in 2022 and its first non-Tom Cruise $200 million grosser since Transformers: Age of Extinction back in 2014. Worldwide the film is at $385 million.

Still holding strong in fourth is Robert Eggers’ Nosferatu with $6.8 million. That brings its 19-day gross to $81.8 million. The good news there is the film is currently outpacing that of the Jennifer Lawrence/Chris Klein sci-fi film, Passengers, which had $80.9 million in that timeframe after opening just before Christmas. However, it had a third weekend of $8.8 million and finished with less than $15,000 above $100 million. Nosferatu needs to get closer to that film’s $5.34 million and $2.24 million fourth and fifth weekends to stay on track for his fans to celebrate a milestone. Globally the film is over $135 million.

Speaking of milestones, another of 2024’s big hits, Moana 2, is making its way to a billion dollars across the globe. Another $6.5 million this weekend gives the film $434.8 million on the domestic side, while its international total stands at $554.9 million. It is happening. Again, it’s hard to imagine there is a billion dollars of revenue generated strictly from a run on Disney+. After a four-year run starting with the pandemic in 2020 when Disney did not hit that milestone, they will have achieved it three times in 2024 along with Inside Out 2 and Deadpool & Wolverine.

This past week, James Mangold’s A Complete Unknown made some big leaps forward in the Oscar race, where it seems like a certain Best Picture nominee now. Mangold himself got a Director’s Guild nod and three of its stars, including Edward Norton and Monica Barbaro, received Screen Actors Guild nominations along with a full cast nod. Its star, Timothee Chalamet, also a DGA nominee, was just announced to be both host and musical guest of Saturday Night Live the week before the newly delayed Oscar nominations are announced. Searchlight is hoping this will keep the film’s numbers steady for a few weeks as it made $5 million in its third weekend for a 19-day haul of $50.8 million. Nobody wants to hear they are doing Golden Compass numbers, but staying on this path could get it over $70 million, a decent number when not factoring in its production cost of $70 million.

Universal had some hope that their first half of Wicked could stretch itself to $500 million domestic. But a PVOD run beginning on New Year’s Eve may have helped kill that, as it is down to $5 million this weekend. Still, a $458.9 million haul to date is pretty incredible, and it continues to head for a landing around $475 million. Globally the film is just shy of $700 million with the back half of the story looking to clean up and help close out 2025.

Rounding out the top 10 from the ground up, we find Gia Coppola’s The Last Showgirl, which earned SAG nominations for both Pamela Anderson and Jamie Lee Curtis. The film had a qualifying run back in December but officially opened in 870 theaters with $1.5 million. Roadside Attractions’ highest-grossing films since the pandemic have been The Courier ($6.57 million) and Family Camp ($3.97 million). In ninth place is the Telugu action film Game Changer, grossing $2.1 million. Above it in eighth we have Nicole Kidman in Babygirl, making another $3.1 million and bringing its total to $21.7 million. It’s the 14th-highest grossing film in A24’s history and is less than $6 million away from reaching the top 10.

Beyond the Top 10: Awards Hopefuls Look for Traction Ahead of Oscar Nominations

A24 also expanded Brady Corbet’s The Brutalist into 68 theaters this weekend, and it picked up a healthy $1.39 million, just missing out on the top 10. That’s a per-theater average of $20,408, bringing its total to date to $2.7 million as it awaits a bunch of Oscar nominations, which were just rescheduled today for Thursday, January 23. Angel Studios’ apocalyptic western Homestead made $1.09 million, bringing its total to $19.2 million.

Gintz Zilbalodis’ Flow, which won the Golden Globe for Animated Feature last week, made $303,000 in 247 theaters, bringing its total to $3 million with an Oscar nomination on the horizon. Bleecker Street finally got Mike Leigh’s Hard Truths out into 22 theaters after its qualifying run in theaters. It grossed $166,000 and is hoping to hear Marianne Jean-Baptiste’s name read amongst the Best Actress nominees. It would only be the studio’s second major Oscar nomination after Bryan Cranston was nominated for Trumbo back in 2015. Bleecker will expand Leigh’s film next week.

Amazon/MGM/Orion’s Nickel Boys made $112,000 in 26 theaters. RaMell Ross’ critically acclaimed film has made $578,000 to date and expands into 300 theaters next weekend with its fingers crossed for nominations for Best Picture, Adapted Screenplay, and more. Pedro Almodovar’s The Room Next Door with Julianne Moore and Tilda Swinton moved into 44 theaters and grossed $255,000 for a total of $600,000.

**On the Vine: Wolf Man Creeps into Theaters**

Last week we talked about January missing its big horror offering. Next week, Universal, Blumhouse and Leigh Whannell deliver with his take on the Wolf Man. After The Invisible Man had its very successful run cut short by the pandemic back in 2020, this continuation of the Dark Universe is hoping to give 2025 its first big opening. Can it match the $28 million start of Invisible or even the $31 million start by Joe Johnston’s The Wolfman back in 2010? Eight of the top 20 January openings of all time are linked to horror. Will Wolf Man make it nine?

Full List of Box Office Results: January 10-12, 2025

57% 79% Den of Thieves 2: Pantera (2025) – $15.5 million ($15.5 million total)
56% 88% Mufasa: The Lion King (2024) – $13.2 million ($188.7 million total)
87% 96% Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (2024) – $11 million ($204.5 million total)
85% 73% Nosferatu (2024) – $6.8 million ($81.8 million total)
61% 86% Moana 2 (2024) – $6.5 million ($434.8 million total)
78% 96% A Complete Unknown (2024) – $5 million ($50.8 million total)
88% 95% Wicked (2024) – $5 million ($458.9 million total)
76% 48% Babygirl (2024) – $3.1 million ($21.7 million total)
- - 49% Game Changer (2025) – $2.1 million ($2.1 million total)
80% 77% The Last Showgirl (2024) – $1.5 million ($1.5 million total)