The weekendbox officefor January 17-20, which expands to four days for Martin Luther King Jr. Day, delivered some surprising results domestically. AfterDen of Thieves 2became the #1 movie at the box officein its opening weekend, the film had hopes of still competing for a top 3 spot as Universal’sWolf Manreimagining and Keke Palmer’s comedyOne of Them Dayshit theaters. The expectation was that either of the new releases would come out on top of the box office over the traditional 3-day weekend, as well as the extended 4-day weekend.
That’s what projections called for, and ourWolf ManandOne of Them Daysbox office previewreflected this notion. Tracking called for an easy win for Universal’s horror monster movie, but the end result was completely different.Wolf Manstruggled to find an audience, whileDen of Thieves 2had a larger drop than anticipated. This all came asMufasa: The Lion King’s box officebarely dropped andOne of Them Dayscame in on the higher end of projections. The weekend box office recap for January 17-20 is different than expected as a result.
1
$12.05 million
$15.4 million
2
$11.8 million
$14 million
3
$10.9 million
$12.3 million
4
Sonic the Hedgehog 3
$8.6 million
$11 million
5
Den of Thieves 2
$6.6 million
$7.64 million
6
$5.9 million
$7.77 million
7
$4.15 million
$4.9 million
8
$3.7 million
$4.53 million
9
$3.59 million
$4.52 million
10
$2 million
$2.46 million
Mufasa: The Lion King Was The #1 Movie At The Box Office This Weekend After Overtaking One Of Them Days
One Of Them Days Nearly Won The 3-Day Weekend
Thanks to MLK Day factoring into the weekend box office,Mufasa: The Lion KingbeatOne of Them Daysto be the #1 movie in the country. This was not fully expected becauseDisney’sThe Lion Kingprequel/sequel only had a 15.2% dropin its fifth weekend of release. That’s a remarkable hold forMufasaand gives it its third weekend at the top of box office charts domestically. The strong word of mouth for the film and its recognizable IP have continued to pay dividends.
Still,One of Them Dayscame very close to winning the box office in its debut weekend. This would have been quite an accomplishment for the Keke Palmer comedy.A true comedic film has not been the #1 movie at the weekend box office in nearly three years.Jackass Foreverwas the last comedy to open at #1 and that was back in February 2022.One of Them Days' record-breaking Rotten Tomatoes score for Palmerand its A- CinemaScore shows how much audiences and critics love the film. Its overperformance to the tune of $11.8M/$14M is another sign.
Wolf Man’s Poor Reception Tanks The Film’s Opening Weekend Box Office
Universal was expected to be at the top of the weekend box office thanks toWolf Man, but the film proved to have a more middling opening than projections indicated. Instead of having an $18M+ opening,it only made $10.9 million over three days and $12.3 million over four days. The saving grace for Universal andWolf Manis the film’s reported $25 million budget, meaning the studio could still wind up breaking even at worse on the monster film. This is less of a certainty based on the film’s reception though.
Wolf Manreceived mixed reviewsfrom critics, with many skewing negative on Rotten Tomatoes. This unfavorable reaction is something audiences have felt, too, as demonstrated by its 57% Popcornmeter score and a C- CinemaScore. That puts the production, which Blumhouse was also involved in, in a position where it could suffer from harsh drops due to the poor word of mouth. Horror movies are usually seen as critic-proof to a certain degree, but those films that still succeed at the box office need audiences to latch on. So far, they have not forWolf Man.
Den Of Thieves 2 Is Dropping Quicker Than The Original At The Box Office
The Den Of Thieves Sequel Is Falling Behind
Den of Thieves 2also performed worse than anticipated in its second weekend of release. The film’s opening weekend gave signs of hope that Gerard Butler and O’Shea Jackson Jr.’s sequel could be a solid hit for Lionsgate early in 2025. It has better reviews than the original 2018 movie, butaudiences are seemingly not as excited to see the sequel in theaters.Den of Thieves 2’s $6.6 million second weekend is lower than the original’s $8.6 million. The $2 million difference is substantial when talking about a mid-budget action film.
Den of Thieves 2suffered a 56% drop this past weekend, which is far worse thanDen of Thievesonly dropping 43% in its second frame. After opening $200K behind the original,the sequel is now trailing it by $2.6 millionafter the traditional second weekend. The gap closes to $2.1 million after factoring in the second Monday haul for each film. This is not a great sign forDen of Thieves 2considering it has been the biggest R-rated action movie in theaters during this stretch, and a major competitor enters the field this coming weekend withFlight Risk.
Other Takeaways From The 2025 MLK Weekend Box Office
Mufasa Continues To Perform Well For Disney
For any concerns thatMufasa: The Lion Kingwould be a box office disappointment for Disney, the film has continued to impress after more than a month in theaters. It’s now made over $200 million domestically and is close to eclipsing $600 million worldwide. Impressively small drops likeMufasahad this weekend are not likely to keep happening, but it continues to defy conventional norms. It’s now stayed in the top 2 at the box office for five consecutive weekends, winning two of them. That’s a massive win for Disney, especially ahead ofSnow Whitecontinuing the live-action remake trend.
It’s also worth noting thatMoana 2stays in the top 5 for the weekend over the extended MLK Day period but drops to 6th over the traditional 3-day weekend. This is the first time in eight weeks of release that the animated sequel fell out of top 5. It’s no wonderMoana 2made $1 billionofficially thanks to these strong holds, as this last weekend was its lowest drop, at 9.8%, other than the post-Christmas weekend that saw it increase its weekend-to-weekend haul.
Elsewhere,NosferatuandBabygirlcontinue to do well and secure more milestones.Nosferatuhas now made over $90 million domestically, putting it on the cusp of being the first Robert Eggers movie to make over $100 million here.Babygirlalso crossed the $25 million box office milestone, which is a first for a Nicole Kidman-leading movie in 17 years.
What The January 17-20 Weekend Box Office Means For The Next Week
Flight Risk Arrives Next Weekend
The January 17-20 weekend box office puts a handful of movies in contention to keep doing well for the foreseeable future.One of Them Daysis in the best positionof the new titles, as it has the strong reviews and word of mouth to help encourage more people to watch the movie in theaters. This should help it continue to do solid business for Sony and Keke Palmer.Mufasa: The Lion King,Sonic the Hedgehog 3, andMoana 2are also in good spots to keep performing well.
Wolf Manis in a tougher spot going forward. The early box office returns were not as strong as expected, and the mixed reception does not inspire confidence that this will change. It does not help that Steven Soderbergh’sPresenceand the Sophie Thatcher and Jack Quaid filmCompanioncome out the next two weekends and add more horror movie competition. That’s a similar place asDen of Thieves 2is now in, withFlight Risk’s release this weekend poised to steal some attention. This should mean a new #1 movie at thebox officeonce again.
