How Mufasa: The Lion King became a sleeper hit

LOS ANGELES – Mufasa has life in him after all.

Mufasa: The Lion King, a photorealistic Lion King (1994 and 2019) prequel, arrived on cat paws at the Christmas box office, collecting a weak US$35 million (S$47 million) in its first weekend in North American cinemas, or 30 per cent less than Disney had expected.

The company had been hoping that Mufasa would add to investor confidence about a turnaround at Walt Disney Studios.

Instead, it prompted a new worry: Perhaps the money-gushing Lion King franchise (movie and TV spin-offs, a smash stage musical, theme park attractions and the sale of countless stuffed Simbas) was starting to slow. The franchise is 30 years old, after all.

But Mufasa, which cost US$200 million to make, has since become a sleeper success.

It was on pace to sell roughly US$16.5 million in tickets from Jan 17 through Jan 20, enough for No. 1 and bringing its North American total to about US$211 million. That would push the movie into the box-office top 10 for 2024.

Globally, Mufasa has now been No. 1 for five weeks running, and North American and overseas ticket sales now total around US$600 million.

Box-office analysts estimated on Jan 18 that Mufasa could add an additional US$75 million to US$100 million to its worldwide total by the end of its run in cinemas.

Competition for family viewers probably hurt Mufasa when it debuted on Dec 20. Other movies going after the same audience included Sonic The Hedgehog 3, Wicked and Disney’s own Moana 2.

Mufasa, directed by American film-maker Barry Jenkins, was the only prequel of the bunch, and prequels usually have less urgent “need to see”, to use Hollywood jargon: Why rush out to find out how a story starts when you already know how it ends?.

But competition has eased. The only new movies to arrive over the weekend were One Of Them Days, a low-budget, R-rated comedy, and Wolf Man, an R-rated horror movie.

The historical drama September 5, which has received strong reviews, had been scheduled for wide release on Jan 17.

But after the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences pushed back nominations voting for the Oscars because of the Los Angeles fires, Paramount Pictures delayed the film’s roll-out in the hope that it will get nominations that it can then use in advertisements. A wide release for September 5 is now planned for early February.

Mufasa has also benefited from attention on social media.

Over the Christmas and New Year’s holiday period, Disney marketeers noticed that TikTok users were embracing original songs written for the film by American actor-songwriter Lin-Manuel Miranda – in particular, the jaunty ode to sibling-hood, I Always Wanted A Brother.

Disney rushed to amplify the trend, releasing extended video clips of musical sequences from the film and boosting music-related advertising. The studio had Miranda make videos of himself talking about the song.

While promoting Mufasa on The Jennifer Hudson Show in December, English actor Aaron Pierre, who voices Simba’s father in the movie, danced as he walked to the stage. A video showcasing his moves has since gone viral, undoubtedly adding to interest in the film.

It was a good weekend at the box office for Disney for another reason. Moana 2 crossed US$1 billion worldwide, becoming the studio’s third release of 2024 to do so. The other two were Inside Out 2 and Deadpool & Wolverine.

No other studio had even one billion-dollar movie in 2024. NYTIMES

• Mufasa: The Lion King is showing in Singapore cinemas.