At a time when there is a lot of questioning and doubt in the film world regarding what titles can perform well on the big screen, animated features and family flicks have provided a nice dose of consistency. Six out of the top 15 movies domestically in 2024 fell into these categories, and they have provided nice doses of optimism. Fortunately, that trend seems to be carrying over into the new year as well, as Peter Hastings' Dog Man has put up some big numbers in its opening weekend.
The new animated movie easily won the box office over the last three days, but director Drew Hancock's original horror movie Companion, which concurrently debuted on Friday, also did relatively well, and it now seems to be in position to do some interesting business in the coming weeks. Check out the full Top 10 below and join me after for analysis.
| TITLE | WEEKEND GROSS | DOMESTIC GROSS | LW | THTRS |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Dog Man* | $36,000,000 | $36,000,000 | N/A | 3,885 |
| 2. Companion* | $9,500,000 | $9,500,000 | N/A | 3,285 |
| 3. Mufasa: The Lion King | $6,113,000 | $229,510,210 | 2 | 3,180 |
| 4. One Of Them Days | $6,000,000 | $34,450,000 | 3 | 2,306 |
| 5. Flight Risk | $5,600,000 | $20,907,918 | 1 | 3,161 |
| 6. Sonic The Hedgehog 3 | $3,225,000 | $230,549,000 | 4 | 2,665 |
| 7. Moana 2 | $2,836,000 | $453,894,948 | 5 | 2,200 |
| 8. A Complete Unknown | $2,164,000 | $66,691,601 | 8 | 1,515 |
| 9. The Brutalist | $1,865,690 | $12,116,310 | 10 | 1,612 |
| 10. Den Of Thieves 2: Pantera | $1,600,000 | $34,484,869 | 9 | 1,471 |
Dog Man Puts Up Strong Opening Weekend Numbers Comparable To The Wild Robot
Without the same level of brand recognition, Dog Man couldn't quite put up opening weekend numbers that matched with Mike Mitchell's Kung Fu Panda 4 (which was Dreamworks Animation's biggest hit in 2024), but the new title has basically matched the performance of Chris Sanders' The Wild Robot from last fall, and that puts it on very good footing.
According to early figures reported by The Numbers, Dog Man made $36 million in the last three days, which is very comparable to the $35.8 million that The Wild Robot earned when it first hit theaters. While not a start that will ensure that the Dav Pilkey adaptation will be featured as one of the highest grossing titles of the year come December, it's certainly already looking like a hit. The Wild Robot finished its theatrical run around the globe making $324.8 million, making it the twenty-third biggest film of the year; it would be a feather in the cap of Dog Man if it were able to end up in a similar place.
One month into 2025, the new animated film also notably now holds the superlative of "biggest opening weekend of the year so far," and while that's obviously not a huge deal at the end of January, it's worth noting that things are at least a tad better than where things were this time last year. In 2024, it wasn't until the first weekend of March and the arrival of Denis Villeneuve's Dune: Part Two that a title made over $30 million in its first three days.
According to Variety, Dog Man only cost $40 million to produce (not counting publicity and advertising), and when one factors in the money that the movie has already made abroad, it's well positioned to be viewed as a success. It's already trending much better than David Soren's Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie from 2017, which was the first time that a Dav Pilkey work was brought to theaters. That title only made $23.9 million in its debut, but it will managed to make $126.4 million worldwide.
But will Dog Man manage to have sustained success throughout February? That's not clear as of yet. The "A" rating delivered by CinemaScore surveys suggests that audiences are loving the kooky animated movie, but the reaction from critics hasn't been quite as positive (I gave it three stars in my CinemaBlend review, noting that its cute, but also all over the place). In terms of competition, Dougal Wilson's Paddington in Peru is coming up to try and steal the attention of the youngest sections of the movie-going audience, and Julius Onah's Captain America: Brave New World is also arriving mid-month is aiming for typical Marvel Studios four-quadrant appeal.
You can almost certainly expect the weekend-to-weekend drop of Dog Man to be a part of my box office reporting next Sunday.
Companion Settles For Second Place, But Word Of Mouth May Turn It Into A Big Winner
It was a forgone conclusion that Dog Man was going to win the box office this weekend, but Companion has been viewed as a curiosity. The film first started super exciting buzz when it screened at the end of last year, and that positivity only grew stronger as critics had the chance to fully analyze the work (I worked very hard to avoid spoilers in my four-star CinemaBlend review). Per Deadline, it was estimated that the movie would make between $8-10 million in its first three days, and it followed through by making $9.5 million in the last three days – but it will be interesting to see how it gets treated by word of mouth.
The Deadline report cites sources that say "Warners underspent greatly in the campaign," but in the studio's defense, Companion is a complicated film to promote given that the best way to go into it is by knowing very little about it. Now that people have been seeing it and enjoying, I wonder if it will pull off some strong weekend-to-weekend numbers. I don't anticipate it leapfrogging over Dog Man in its second Friday-to-Sunday, but I can imagine it sticking around in the Top 5 for the majority of February (and considering it reportedly had a budget under $10 million, it will ultimately be seen as another notable win for original horror).
How things play out in the coming weeks will also greatly depend on the performance of next week's new releases – including Josh Reuben's slasher feature Heart Eyes and the Ke Huy Kwan-led action film Love Hurts from director Jonathan Eusebio. Be sure to head back here to CinemaBlend next Sunday for our latest box office report, and to start planning all of your big screen adventures in the coming weeks and months, check out our 2025 Movie Release Calendar.
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