Family-Friendly Movies Booming at the Box Office with Upwards of $420M
By Movieguide® Contributor
So far, MUFASA: THE LION KING has made $588m globally, and SONIC THE HEDGEHOG 3 has made $422M — a record for the franchise.
MUFASA’s top five markets are France, the UK, Mexico, Germany and Italy. The top five markets for SONIC THE HEDGEHOG are the UK, Mexico, France, Brazil and Australia, respectively, per Deadline. The movie just released digitally, on VOD today, Jan. 21.
Meanwhile, horror movie NOSFERATU has only $155M globally. PADDINGTON IN PERU, which doesn’t release in the US until Feb. 14, currently had $72.8M. It originally released in the UK in November, where it made $43.3M.
WOLF MAN sits at $15.4M, DEN OF THEIVES 2 at $37.9M and CONCLAVE at $76.5M. I’M STILL HERE is at $13.4M, ANORA at $11.1M and WICKED at $708M.
READ MORE: PADDINGTON IN PERU SLATED TO WIN HEARTS VALENTINE’S DAY WEEKEND
Screen Rant notes SONIC’s success can be attributed to audiences’ recent favoritism of family-friendly movies. Last year, four out of five of the year’s top movies were PG. In comparison, 2023 had only two family-friendly movies in its top five, as reported in Movieguide®’s 2024 Report to the Entertainment Industry. The success of family movies in 2024 displays great statistics, as audiences want to see content they can watch with all of their family members.
Movieguide® ranked SONIC THE HEDGEHOG 2 as 2023’s Best Family Movie, earning it a Teddy Bear Award®.
Part of Movieguide®’s review of SONIC THE HEDGEHOG 3 reads:
SONIC THE HEDGEHOG 3 opens with a mysterious hedgehog with superpowers named Shadow escaping a military prison where he’s been held for 50 years…
A flashback about Shadow interrupts the story in SONIC THE HEDGEHOG 3. However, the flashback gives the movie a heartwarming twist. Also, the twist plays a major role in the movie’s spectacular, exciting, uplifting, redemptive ending. Thus, SONIC THE HEDGEHOG 3 has a strong moral, redemptive worldview. It overtly promotes family, adoption, love, sacrifice, making good choices, and doing the right thing. The movie also has a positive reference to God and a beautiful sentiment about light overcoming death. SONIC THE HEDGEHOG 3 provides plenty of thrills, laughs and heartwarming moments. Caution is advised for some violence and five relatively light expletives.
As for MUFASA’s success, director Barry Jenkins said, “With the LION KING, in every scene, there’s got to be something for someone who’s four years old, 94-years-old, and everything in between. There aren’t really any new generations for THE LION KING.”
READ MORE: SONIC THE HEDGEHOG 3 FULL REVIEW
- Content: +1Share:
- Content: +3