Industry News
by saidiontheside

saidi’s take – 2/4/2025

Hello everyone,

BOX OFFICE: The weekend of Jan/Feb got a boost thanks to the new Dreamworks/Universal animated movie “Dog Man” which made $36 million this past weekend.  That’s the 2nd best opening for an animated movie in January (although most of the weekend was February) and it was so much it’s the #1 movie of 2025 (so far) at the domestic box office after just one weekend.  Unfortunately, nothing else did well.  The other new movie opening was the thriller “Companion” which was #2 but only made $9.3 million.  “Mufasa: The Lion King” came in #3 and its total domestic box office is now pretty much tied with “Sonic the Hedgehog 3” at approx. $230 million.  Both movies came out 7 weeks ago but “Sonic the Hedgehog 3” did  better over the first couple weeks.  “Mufasa: The Lion King” caught up in January. 

Overall, the total domestic box office rose 31.5% over the previous weekend thanks to “Dog Man” making a domestic total of $84.7 million.  That was also approx 40% higher than the ssame weekend last year.

WORLDWIDE BOX OFFICE: It was another slow weekend worldwide.  “Dog Man” made only $4.4 million internationally but that was enough to make it the #2 movie of  2025 (so far) at the worldwide box office with approx. $40 million after only one weekend (“Den of Thieves: Pantera” is #1 with $49 million worldwide).  “Moana 2” is now at $1.03 BILLION which makes it the #9 animated movie of all time on the worldwide box office.  “Paddington in Peru” is approaching a worldwide total of $100 million before opening domestically (it opens in 2 weeks domestically).

OTHER NEWS:

Last night at the Grammy Awards a new commercial for “Megan 2.0” premiered – although the movie doesn’t open until June – and the news says a lot more commercials for upcoming movies will probably premiere during the Superbowl next weekend such as Marvels ‘Thunderbolts*” and “Fantastic Four: The First Steps”, this summers “Mission: Impossible” sequel/part 2, Disney’s live action versions of “Snow White” and “Lilo and Stitch”, Pixars “Elio”,  Universals “Jurassic World” sequel, and Dreamworks live action “How to Train Your Dragon” movie.

LITTLE BIT OF HUMOR:

Getting a case of deja-vu? 

Some people asked why I did a “Groundhogs Day” movie joke a week before Groundhogs Day (this past Sunday).  It’s because the “Little Bit of Humor” has a bit of it’s own “Groundhogs Day” this week.  It should be cured by next week.