Mufasa Joins A New Box Office Ranking As Holiday Boosts Final Exclusive Weekend In Theaters

Mufasa: The Lion King has landed on another box office milestone in its final weekend of theatrical exclusivity. The Lion King prequel was released during the Christmas holiday when it had to compete against Sonic the Hedgehog 3 and incumbent favorites like Wicked and Moana 2. Despite a slow start during its debut weekend, the movie gradually became a top-performing 2024 movie and surpassed Sonic the Hedgehog 3's domestic total. Mufasa: The Lion King'svoice cast features Aaron Pierre, Kelvin Harrison Jr., Preston Nyman, Blue Ivy Carter, Mads Mikkelsen, Billy Eichner, and Donald Glover.

Per The Numbers, Mufasa: The Lion King is now one of the 100 highest-grossing sequel films of all time at the worldwide box office. It is now in the no. 94 spot, beating out The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 1. It is also under $2 million behind its next competitor, The Twilight Saga: New Moon.

What This Means For Mufasa

This Is Not The Film's First Major Milestone

Not only did Mufasa make it onto this new ranking list, but it did so during its last weekend of theatrical exclusivity. The Lion Kingprequel becomes available on VOD today, February 18, and will hit 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray, and DVD on April 1. The box office was pushed over the edge by Presidents' Day weekend, bringing in $5.2 million in the United States alone and making it onto the top 10 domestic chart.

Mufasa Ending Explained: What Happened Before & After The Lion King

Mufasa: The Lion King serves as a prequel-sequel to 2019's The Lion King. With a new backstory for Mufasa and Scar, we break down the film's ending.

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This has brought Mufasa's total gross to $686.2 million. A whopping $445 million comes from the overseas market, showing that the Lion King musical has an international appeal. Along the way, Mufasa has landed on other highest-grossing charts, including the top 50 highest-grossing PG movies of all time. The Disney prequel is also in the top 10 highest-grossing releases of 2024, claiming the no. 7 spot. It is still over $28 million behind the critically acclaimed Dune: Part Two, so it will probably stay in this spot.

Our Take On Mufasa's Recent Milestone

Mufasa Did Not Do As Well As The Lion King

Mufasa's success story is complicated, as it had such massive shoes to fill. Despite the backlash, the 2019 remake of The Lion King did extremely well in theaters, making over $1.6 billion to become one of the highest-grossing films of all time. Mufasa did not even pull half of this total, but it must be commended how the prequel managed to overcome obstacles, especially after it had a slow start. The movie found an audience through word of mouth and simply families checking it out, which makes this feat impressive.