Nosferatu and A Complete Unknown do solid business

Adult-oriented titles are seeing higher box office returns than expected, while Mufasa botched Sonic 3 on Christmas Day.

The Christmas box office is proving unpredictable this holiday season. While Sonic the Hedgehog 3 slaughtered Mufasa: The Lion King In a completely unexpected twist, the Disney prequel had a huge hit at the box office last weekend on Christmas Day: Deadline reported that the film grossed a whopping $14.7 million. Even more unexpected was the fact that… Sonic3 was beaten by Robert Eggers’ distinctly adult focus Nosferatuwhich, by comparison, grossed a whopping $11.5 million soundThat’s $10.5 million. A complete unknownthe (fantastic) Bob Dylan biopic starring Timothee Chalamet, earned $7.1 million and came in fourth place Evil came in fifth place with a still strong $5.4 million. A24 Baby girl earned $1.5 million for seventh place.

So how will the Christmas box office develop? Mufasa has been given a new lease of life, so I expect this one to make over $70 million for the five-day vacation Sonic3 is likely to fall to around $50 million. For me, the box office turnaround of these two films is one of the biggest surprises of the year, but kudos to Disney, who in the end made a wise decision to open the prequel in the Christmas box office corridor, even if it is unlikely grosses anywhere near the $1.5 billion that the first film brought in.

For the five day holiday, Nosferatu should earn around $40 million in third place, which would be an amazing result for Focus. The CinemaScore received a B-minus rating (solid for a horror title). A complete unknown is expected to gain momentum over the holidays, with the A-CinemaScore rating pointing to a 5-day result in the $25 million range Evil shouldn’t be too far behind at around $20 million.

Here are our predictions for the 5 day vacation:

1. Mufasa: $70 million
2. Sonic the Hedgehog 3: $50 million
3. Nosferatu: $40 million
4. A complete unknown: $25 million
5. Evil: $20 million

What did you watch this holiday weekend? Let us know in the comments!