Here’s Which Family Movies Dominated the Christmas Box Office
By Movieguide® Contributor
Family-friendly movies dominated the Christmas box office.
SONIC THE HEDGEHOG 3 opened in theaters on Dec. 20 and didn’t disappoint, earning over $62 million in box office revenue.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, “That’s the second-best December start ever for a PG pic since THE CHRONICLES OF NARIA: THE LION, THE WITCH, AND THE WARDROBE almost 20 years ago in 2005, not adjusted for inflation.”
Starring Jim Carrey, Ben Schwartz, James Marsden, Tika Sumpter, Idris Elba and Colleen O’Shaughnessey, SONIC THE HEDGEHOG 3 sees “Sonic, Knuckles, and Tails reunite against a powerful new adversary, Shadow, a mysterious villain with powers unlike anything they have faced before. With their abilities outmatched in every way, Team Sonic must seek out an unlikely alliance in hopes of stopping Shadow and protecting the planet.”
Movieguide® praised its “Very strong moral worldview with strong redemptive and allegorical twists.”
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.
LION KING sequel MUFASA: THE LION KING brought another $35 million to the box office.
The movie “enlists Rafiki to relay the legend of Mufasa to young lion cub Kiara, daughter of Simba and Nala, with Timon and Pumbaa lending their signature schtick. Told in flashbacks, the story introduces Mufasa as an orphaned cub, lost and alone until he meets a sympathetic lion named Taka — the heir to a royal bloodline. The chance meeting sets in motion an expansive journey of an extraordinary group of misfits searching for their destiny–their bonds will be tested as they work together to evade a threatening and deadly foe,” a synopsis reads.
MUFASA: THE LION KING is a beautifully animated adventure story with lots of jeopardy. The movie has great voice work by the entire cast and at least two highly memorable songs. Even better, MUFASA: THE LION KING has strong, inspiring ideas on what makes a great leader. For example, Mufasa’s compassion eventually helps bring all the animals together. MUFASA also has a pro-family perspective that’s also pro-adoption. That said, some of the action and fighting in MUFASA is too intense for younger children.
READ MORE: MUFASA: THE LION KING REVIEW
It isn’t surprising that family-friendly movies dominated the box office over the Christmas holiday.
Based on Movieguide®’s analysis of 170 theatrical movies released nationally last year, “family-friendly movies reflecting strong Christian, redemptive, moral, biblical, traditional, or conservative principles and values usually do significantly better at the box office in the United States and Canada than those movies that don’t have such strong content.”
READ MORE: HOW BIBLICAL, MORALLY UPLIFTING CONTENT SUCCEEDS IN HOLLYWOOD
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