It was a tight race for the top spot.

While Mufasa reclaimed the top spot, One of Them Days over-performed projections and delivered a great start for a comedy. Meanwhile, the other wide release, Universal/Blumhouse's Wolf Man, debuted below expectations and failed to replicate the success of The Invisible Man.

The Top 10 earned a combined $68.7 million this weekend. That's up 32.2% when Mean Girls repeated atop.

Mufasa returned to the top spot, easing just 15% and adding $12 million this weekend ($15.3 million four-day). The film has earned $209.7 million so far, and it should get close to $250 million by the end of its run.

Debuting in second place, Sony's One of Them Days earned $11.8 million this weekend ($14 million four-day). That's a pretty great result for an R-rated comedy, a genre that has been struggling in the post-pandemic world.

Credit has to go to Sony for successfully marketing the film, relying on its stars (Keke Palmer and SZA) for selling the film as a laughing machine. In order to build buzz, they also held early screenings, helping create awareness for the film. The film's incredibly high reviews (97% on RT) surely helped as well.

According to Sony, 69% of the audience was female, and 71% was in the 18-34 demographic. They gave it a very solid "A–" on CinemaScore, which suggests it could leg out. There's very slow competition on the way, so a run over $35 million could happen (and don't be surprised if it passes $40 million):

Having to settle for third place, Universal/Blumhouse's Wolf Man disappointed with just $10.8 million in 3,354 theaters ($12.2 million four-day). That's off 62% from The Invisible Man ($28.2 million), another Universal Monsters adaptation from Blumhouse and Leigh Whannell. It's also 66% off from 2010's The Wolfman ($31.4 million).

Even though Blumhouse kept the budget low at $25 million, this feels like a very underwhelming debut (it gets worse if you see the overseas numbers). After all, Blumhouse hit gold with The Invisible Man, which is a big reason why they got Whannell back as writer and director. Yet this just didn't work. What happened?

The film underwent development hell, even before The Invisible Man started production. When Universal announced its Dark Universe cinematic universe, a new Wolf Man film was in development (possibly starring The Rock). After the poor performance of The Mummy, however, plans shifted and it was placed on thin ice. When The Invisible Man was a success, Universal started hearing new pitches from directors and writers. In a big surprise, Ryan Gosling was announced to play the Wolf Man, and when Whannell initially left the film, Derek Cianfrance agreed to direct the film. After 2 years of working on the project, Cianfrance and Gosling left due to scheduling conflicts, with Whannell returning and the Wolf Man now played by Christopher Abbott. The audience is not aware of production problems, but this is a sign that the film is struggling to find the right story to tell.

While there was hope that Whannell's involvement could replicate the success of The Invisible Man, the first red flags were seen in September. During Universal's Halloween Horror Nights, an actor appeared as the title character. The design of the Wolf Man quickly went viral, and reactions were divisive, mostly leaning negative. Whether that was the design for the final version of the film or not, it already left a bad image in the eyes of the public. Universal didn't want to risk another bad publicity stunt, and so the design of the creature was hidden from posters and trailers.

Blumhouse's brand also appears to have eased off in the past year. 2024 was quite a weak year for them; Speak No Evil was their highest grossing film worldwide with just $75 million, Night Swim barely hit $50 million, and Imaginary made just $43 million. And in the incredibly rare scenario, AfrAId flopped. For contrast, they released four films in theaters in 2023 and the lowest grossing was The Exorcist: Believer ($136 million). While most of these were preofitable, it feels like the audience is starting to lose interest in the company. This is a bad way to kick off 2025.

And while it was positioned as the first big horror film of the year, it looks like Nosferatu, which is almost one month old, already stole its thunder in terms of buzz and ticket sales. That film is still holding very well, and it's clear horror fans chose Nosferatu as the main attraction to start the year. Wolf Man simply lacked anything interesting beyond its title character, which, as previously mentioned, it's almost absent in the trailers to avoid showing its design. And the reviews confirmed this was no Invisible Man; it's sitting at a weak 52% on RT.

According to Universal, 60% of the audience was male, and 62% was in the 18-34 demographic. They gave it an awful "C–" on CinemaScore, far worse than The Invisible Man (B+). With poor reception, and other horror titles like Presence and Love Hurts arriving in the next few weeks, this is gonna have a very short run in theaters. For now, a $25 million domestic total is likely, and don't be surprised if it goes lower than that. So the film's domestic total will be below The Invisible Man's opening weekend. Ouch, this Wolf Man got mauled.

Sonic the Hedgehog 3 eased 24%, grossing $8.6 million ($11 million four-day). That took its domestic total to $218.9 million.

After topping the box office last week, Den of Thieves fell all the way to #5. It fell 56%, the worst drop in the Top Ten, adding $6.5 million this weekend ($7.5 million four-day). For comparison, the original dropped just 43%. Through Monday, the film has earned $27.2 million domestically, and it will close with around $40 million.

Moana 2 eased just 8%, adding $5.9 million this weekend ($7.6 million four-day). The film has earned $444 million so far.

Nosferatu dropped 40%, grossing $4.1 million this weekend ($4.9 million four-day). The film has earned a fantastic $90 million domestically, and it's still on pace to hit the $100 million milestone.

Searchlight's A Complete Unknown is still hanging on. It eased 27%, adding $3.7 million ($4.4 million four-day). The film has earned $57.5 million domestically, and it should continue legging out if it gets some major Oscar noms this Thursday.

Wicked dipped 30%, for a $3.5 million weekend ($4.4 million four-day). Its domestic total stands at a marvelous $465 million.

Rounding up the Top Ten was A24's Babygirl, which continues holding incredibly well. The film eased just 34%, adding $2 million this weekend. That took its domestic total to $25.3 million.

Not that far behind Babygirl, was another A24 title, The Brutalist. It expanded to 338 theaters, earning $1.9 million this weekend. With $5.4 million in the bank already, the film is prepared to hit wide release this Friday, the day after it's slated to earn big Oscar noms.

Sony Classics expanded Pedro Almodovar's The Room Next Door in wide release. But it earned just $616,544 in 861 theaters. A very weak $716 per-theater average, and it suggests it will be gone quickly.

September 5 was originally set for a wide release this weekend, before Paramount decided to cancel it. It still hit 121 theaters, earning only $350,261.

Last week, we saw the arrival (and death) of Better Man, which barely hit $1 million in 1,291 theaters. Well, the bad news don't stop there. The film earned only $261,688 this weekend, which represents a disastrous 75% drop. The film has made only $1.8 million domestically, and it won't hit much higher than $2 million by the end of its run. Absolutely terrible.

OVERSEAS

The big story of the weekend is Moana 2. After adding $7.9 million overseas, the films has sailed past $1 billion worldwide, becoming WDAS' fourth film to hit that mark. The best markets are France ($61.2M), UK ($50.5M), Germany ($43.1M), Australia ($30.9M) and Japan ($30.7M).

Now, Mufasa once again topped the box office. It added $20.3 million, as its worldwide total now reaches $594 million. The best markets are France ($35.9M), the UK ($32.6M), Mexico ($26.8M), Germany ($26.3M) and Italy ($22.6M).

Sonic the Hedgehog 3 added $15.2 million, taking its worldwide total to $422 million. And with that, it has officially passed the second film's worldwide total, becoming the highest grossing of the franchise. The best markets are the UK ($27.7M), Mexico ($20.2M), France ($17.3M), Brazil ($11.2M) and Australia ($15.5M).

In a notable milestone, Nosferatu added $7.7 million overseas, crossing $150 million worldwide. The best markets are the UK ($13.4M), Mexico ($7.1M), Italy ($4.9M), Spain ($4.7M) and Australia ($4.1M).

Paddington in Peru continued its international rollout, earning $6.2 million this weekend, taking its overseas numbers to $72.8 million. It's hitting American theaters on February 14.

Well, Wolf Man made its debut in 53 countries, but it earned just $4.8 million, for a very weak $17.1 million worldwide debut in its first four days. It still has so many markets left, but this is a very poor start. There's a strong chance it could become the rare Blumhouse flick to lose money in theaters.

FILMS THAT ENDED THEIR RUN THIS WEEK

None.

THIS WEEKEND

Two more releases, with one hoping to take the #1 spot.

The first is Lionsgate's Flight Risk, which marks Mel Gibson's first directorial project in 9 years. It stars Mark Wahlberg as a hitman who tries to assassinate a government witness in an airplane. Gibson has proved to be a very reliable filmmaker; all his five films have been box office hits, with The Passion of the Christ breaking so many records in 2004. Can he find success here?

The other is Steven Soderbergh's Presence, a horror thriller where an entity stalks a family in a house, and is shot entirely in first person. The film has attracted great reviews, so perhaps it could break out.

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