"Mufasa: The Lion King" has so far spent its box office in second place behind "Sonic the Hedgehog 3", but Disney's photorealistic animated adventure started 2025 on a high note, finally taking the top spot in its third weekend. Per The cover"Mufasa" is on track to add $24 million to its domestic total over the first weekend of the year, and "Sonic the Hedgehog" is on track with an estimated $20.7 million.

Although it got off to a disappointing start with a $35 million opening weekend, "Mufasa: The Lion King" has since run steady at the box office. Instead of a typical second weekend slump, it experienced a second weekend profitgrossing $36.8 million in the post-Christmas, New Year's weekend window. Sonic the Hedgehog 3 beat out Mufasa when the two movies first opened back to backfell 38% and barely held onto the top spot last weekend. Both films will cross the $400 million mark at the worldwide box office this weekend, and Sonic 3 will set a new franchise record.

Directed by Barry Jenkins ("Moonlight"), Mufasa is a prequel to Jon Favreau's live-action remake of The Lion King, but otherwise tells an original story with new songs by Disney favorite Lin-Manuel Miranda. While Mufasa won't match 2019's The Lion King's staggering $1.6 billion haul, it no longer looks doomed to be a total box office disaster — and January has done wonders for family movies before.