Last weekend, Hollywood basically punted on the new release front. Barry Jenkins' Mufasa: The Lion King, Jeff Fowler's Sonic The Hedgehog 3 and Robert Eggers' Nosferatu all maintained heat from their late December release dates, and studios offered up no fresh competition for them in the first Friday-to-Sunday of the year. Today, however, it feels like we are finally seeing the start of the 2025 box office, as Christian Gudegast's Den Of Thieves 2: Pantera has arrived and is sitting at the top of the domestic charts.
It's been a few years since its predecessor played on the big screen, but the heist sequel has shown that there definitely exists an audience for the the blossoming heist franchise. You can check out the full domestic top 10 below and join me after for analysis.
| TITLE | WEEKEND GROSS | DOMESTIC GROSS | LW | THTRS |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Den Of Thieves 2: Pantera* | $15,500,000 | $15,500,000 | N/A | 3,008 |
| 2. Mufasa: The Lion King | $13,200,000 | $188,777,479 | 1 | 3,620 |
| 3. Sonic The Hedgehog 3 | $11,000,000 | $204,515,000 | 2 | 3,582 |
| 4. Nosferatu | $6,800,000 | $81,807,000 | 3 | 3,082 |
| 5. Moana 2 | $6,500,000 | $434,855,208 | 4 | 3,170 |
| 6. A Complete Unknown | $5,000,000 | $50,847,682 | 6 | 2,815 |
| 7. Wicked | $5,000,000 | $458,900,000 | 5 | 2,967 |
| 8. Babygirl | $3,098,318 | $21,738,200 | 7 | 1,887 |
| 9. The Brutalist | $1,387,740 | $2,742,117 | 15 | 68 |
| 10. Gladiator II | $1,200,000 | $170,989,000 | 8 | 1,329 |
Den Of Thieves 2: Pantera Wins The Weekend With Numbers Similar To The 2018 Movie
Movie-goers may remember that writer/director Christian Gudegast's Den Of Thieves opened back in the early weeks of 2018, and it didn't get off to a particularly notable start. The release had to settle for third place in its debut, as Jake Kasdan's Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle was still going strong in its fifth weekend in theaters, and it made about $600,000 less than Nicolai Fuglsig's 12 Strong starring Chris Hemsworth. At the time, a $15.2 million start was pretty tepid – but in 2025, the sequel making only a little more than that total in its first three days has resulted in a box office crown.
Den Of Thieves 2: Pantera was the only new arrival in theaters this past Friday, and according to The Numbers, the audience that the original gained following its release on streaming has resulted in the follow-up earning the label of "#1 Movie In America." The movie didn't exactly blow its competition out of the water, and the soft $15.5 million figure makes "hit" feel like too strong a descriptor, but no film did better on the big screen in the last three days, and it made more in its debut than Bryce McGuire's Night Swim did around this time last year.
Overall financial success for the new release still has to be earned. According to Deadline, the Lionsgate-released film had a budget of $40 million, and the distributor spent $20 million on publicity and advertising. This in mind, Den Of Thieves 2: Pantera is going to have to show some legs (In 2018, the first Den Of Thieves completed its big screen run earning $80.1 million worldwide).
Does the 2025 feature have the buzz to make that happen? One could say that the jury is still out. On the professional critics front, the conversation about the movie has been mixed-positive, with some writers highlighting its entertainment value but not exactly lauding it as a particularly smart heist thriller. Audiences are showing it a touch more appreciation, with CinemaScore surveys returning a "B+" grade – which is the same result that the first film got.
In addition to word of mouth potentially driving second week interest, the other factor in Den Of Thieves 2: Pantera developing long term success is competition – and 2025 starts to significantly heat up on Friday. Leigh Whannell's Wolf Man (the filmmaker's second Universal Classic Monsters effort after 2020's The Invisible Man) is looking to steal the thriller's key demographics, and there is also lighter fare arriving for audiences in Lawrence Lamont's One Of Them Days starring Keke Palmer and SZA. It may be tricky for the Gerard Butler/O'Shea Jackson Jr. film to stay particularly relevant after this weekend.
Mufasa: The Lion King, Sonic The Hedgehog 2 And Nosferatu Hang On In The Top 5
The arrival of Den Of Thieves 2: Pantera has shifted the spotlight away from the box office race between Mufasa: The Lion King and Sonic The Hedgehog 3, but the blockbuster battle is continuing now that the titles are deeper embedded within the Top 10. Both titles experienced sub-50-percent weekend-to-weekend drops and continue to climb the 2024 domestic and worldwide charts.
Sonic The Hedgehog 3 is now settling for third place, but In the United States and Canada alone, its earnings remain above those of its direct competition from mid-December thanks in large part to its particularly strong debut. The movie added $11 million in ticket sales and has now made over $200 million domestically; it's ranked as the ninth biggest film of 2024, having outgrossed Adam Wingard's Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire (which completed its time in theaters making $196.4 million).
Worldwide, the video game adaptation sequel has made $384.8 million, which is enough for eighteenth place on the worldwide rankings for 2024 – but that's far behind where Mufasa sits. The Lion King prequel has only made $188.8 million thus far at home, but it has made $539.7 million collectively from markets around the globe.
As counterprogramming to those family friendly releases, Nosferatu isn't doing anywhere near the same kind of business, but for being a much smaller title, it's still doing exceptionally well. The $6.8 million it made in the last three days domestically means that it has now earned $81.8 million in the United States and Canada, and its worldwide ticket sales presently total $135.8 million. The film got off to a strong start when it arrived in theaters on Christmas, and it has continued to do good business in the time since.
Looking ahead, we should see a nice splash in the Top 10 next week with the arrival of two new wide releases and some Oscar-hopefuls increasing their theater counts, and I'll be back next Sunday here on CinemaBlend to report on how it all shakes out with my latest box office column. In the meantime, you can start planning out all of your film-going habits in the weeks/months ahead with our 2025 Movie Release Calendar.
