‘Mufasa’ Passing ‘Sonic The Hedgehog 3’ At Domestic B.O., Disney Prequel Sets PVOD Date

Disney’s Mufasa may have stumbled out of the gate next to Paramount’s Sonic the Hedgehog 3 with a domestic opening that was $35.4M to the latter’s $60M, but the lion is set to have the last roar.

This week Mufasa will pass Sonic the Hedgehog 3 at the domestic box office. Both after 45 days in theaters wound up Sunday with respective running cumes of $229.5M and $230.5M.

In the same breath, Mufasa is finally arriving on PVOD on Feb. 18 via digital retailers Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV and Fandango at Home after a 60-day theatrical window, and there in lies some of the trick to its traction at the box office. By implementing a longer window strategy, Mufasa has been able to hold key Imax and PLF screens throughout its run, exhibitors respecting long theatrical windows. Mufasa won’t hit 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray and DVD until April 1.

Sonic the Hedgehog 3 landed on PVOD on Jan. 21 after a 32-day theatrical window. On the day before its PVOD date, Jan. 20, Sonic the Hedgehog stood at $218.9M while Mufasa stood at $209.7M — $9.2M apart.

Globally, Mufasa stands at $652M. While it’s no Lion King which cleared $1.66 billion worldwide in 2019, off a $200M production cost, the lion prequel didn’t do too bad from a P&L standpoint. Sonic the Hedgehog 3 grossed $462.5M worldwide off a $122M production cost.

Among the bonus stuff on the Blu-ray, DVD, etc for Mufasa are

-Full Length Sing-Along with on-screen lyrics.
–Finding Milele: The Making of Mufasa: The Lion King – Director Barry Jenkins and the cast chat how the story was developed and the technology used to make Mufasa’s world come to life.
–Songs of the Savanna – Jenkins and songwriter Lin-Manuel Miranda sit down to discuss the making of the music.
–Ostrich Eggs with Timon & Pumbaa – The duo reveal fun facts and some of the hidden references in the movie.
Outtakes – The cast has fun in the recording booth.

Deleted Scenes:

Music Video: “I Always Wanted a Brother” – Miranda and the cast perform “I Always Wanted A Brother” backstage at a film shoot.

Song Selections:

Protect the Pride featurette – Disney and The Lion Recovery Fund are working to protect the pride and conserve lions in the wild.