Den of Thieves 2 Wins Box Office Crown, Moana 2 Nears $1B Globally

In a win for Gerard Butler and Lionsgate, the heist pic Den of Thieves 2: Pantera topped the domestic box office with a better-than-expected $15.5 million opening over the second full weekend of 2025.

The testosterone-fueled film, produced by Tucker Tooley, marks the first weekend in months that a Lionsgate title has come in No. 1. In further good news, the sequel performed on par with the first Den of Thieves, released by STX in 2018.

So far, moviegoing doesn’t appear to be dramatically impacted in the greater Los Angeles area despite the historic fires raging across the region (L.A. is the top market in the country), according to studio distribution sources monitoring the situation. They say they’ll have a more complete picture later on Sunday or Monday morning. And while there was a slowdown in some spots — including at AMC Universal Citywalk and AMC Americana Glendale — L.A. cinemas continued to lead the list of the weekend’s top-grossing theaters, or at least through Saturday. In terms of closures, only four smaller theaters were closed as of Friday; most were in the Altadena-Pasadena area.

In terms of individual movies, the big casualty of the weekend was the Robbie Williams’ biopic Better Man. The film, distributed by Paramount, earned just $1.1 million as it expanded from six to 1,291 locations after opening in a handful of cinemas on Christmas Day. The pricey British film — it cost north of $100 million to produce — has received strong reviews and audience exit scores, yet isn’t resonating on a larger scale after opting to feature the British pop star as a computer-generated monkey.

At the other end of the spectrum, multiple Golden Globes winner The Brutalist prospered as it expanded into 68 locations, grossing $1.4 million for an eye-popping per-theater average of $20,408. The movie came in 11th place, just behind Roadside Attractions’ awards contender The Last Showgirl, which earned $1.5 million as it expanded into 870 locations.

Back at the top of the chart, Disney’s Mufasa: The Lion King stayed in second place with $13.2 million as the movie crossed the $540 million mark globally. The studio also claimed fifth place with Moana 2, which earned another $6.5 million domestically as it prepares to join the billion-dollar club globally. The animated blockbuster finished Sunday with an estimated $989.8 million in worldwide ticket sales.

Paramount’s Sonic the Hedgehog 3 also celebrated a major milestone as it dashed past the $200 million mark domestically. The film placed in third in North America with $11 million, followed by $6.8 million for Focus Features’ edgy vampire pic Nosferatu, which now sports a domestic total of $81.8 million.

Searchlight’s awards front-runner, A Complete Unknown, landed in sixth place with $5 million, a it jumped the $50 million mark domestically.

More to come.