Mufasa: The Lion Kinghas hit a major milestone that pushes it much closer to profitability after three weekends. The 2024 movie is a prequel to Disney’s photorealistic CG-animated 2019 remake, following the origin story of the future king Mufasa (Aaron Pierre). TheMufasa: The Lion Kingreleasehit an early snag in its opening weekend when it fell severely below its original projections, earning just $35.4 million in North America and taking No. 2 behind the other new release,Sonic the Hedgehog 3.
PerVariety, as of Sunday morning,Mufasa: The Lion Kingisprojected to close out its third weekend in theaters with a cumulative box office total of $476 million worldwide. This makes it just the 10th movie of the year to pass the $475 million milestone and leaves it neck and neck with the current No. 9 movie of 2024,Venom: The Last Dance($476.8 million). This news comes at the same time that it has reversed its domestic fortunes, topplingSonic the Hedgehogto take No. 1 on the weekend’s Top 5 chart for the first time.
What This Means For Mufasa: The Lion King
By hitting this milestone, theMufasa: The Lion Kingbox officehas seen a major turnaround in its prospects. However, it has probably not earned a profit just yet. Movies typically need to earn back two and a half times their budgets in theaters, so its $200 million price taglikely places its break-even point at $500 million or more. However, if the movie continues making huge leaps like it has in its third weekend, it should easily break even by the end of its fourth weekend.
Movies' break-even points are so high because theaters keep half of ticket sales and marketing costs are not factored into production budgets.
It would most likely have been impossible for the movie to have turned a profit if it hadn’t been uplifted after the disappointingMufasa: The Lion Kingopening weekend. Its debut fell catastrophically below the opening weekend of the previous installment, which took in $191.8 million, kicking off a theatrical run that went on to gross $1.662 billion worldwide. IfMufasahad kept going forward on that trajectory relative to the 2019 movie,it would only have grossed $306.7 million worldwide, falling far below its break-even point.
Our Take On The Mufasa: The Lion King Milestone
Its Success Was Far From A Given
The movie’s new milestone is even more remarkable considering the fact that mixedMufasa: The Lion Kingreviewshave earned it a disappointing 55% score from critics on Rotten Tomatoes. However, viewers have diverged from critics,giving it an audience score of 89% on the same platform, which is just below the threshold for it to be officially Verified Hot. This strong audience reaction could be giving it strong word-of-mouth potential, which may account for the movie’s strong week-on-week growth.
Mufasa: The Lion King
Cast
Mufasa: The Lion King explores the origins of the beloved character Mufasa, focusing on his youth as a lost cub who encounters Taka, a royal heir. Their meeting initiates an epic journey of self-discovery and destiny, featuring a group of misfit companions navigating the challenges of their world.
