Box Office: 'Sonic the Hedgehog' Speeds Past 'Call of the Wild' With $26.3M - Hollywood Reporter

In its second weekend, Paramount's blue video game hero outpaced Harrison Ford and a CGI dog to take the top spot at the North American box office.

In a tight race between Paramount's Sonic the Hedgehog and Disney's The Call of the Wild, it was the hedgehog that beat out Harrison Ford and a CGI dog at the North American box office this weekend. 

Sonic, the CGI and live-action hybrid based on the popular Sega games, zoomed past the $100 million milestone at the domestic box office after collecting $26.3 million at U.S. theaters in its second weekend, bringing its total to $106.6 million. Internationally, Sonic grossed $38.3 million in 56 markets with openings in 16 markets this weekend, including Russia, Sweden and Taiwan. 

The $87 million family film stars Jim Carrey, James Marsden and Ben Schwartz as the voice of the titular blue hero. The family movie opened with a record $70 million over Presidents Day weekend, the largest domestic opening for a video game adaptation. It dropped 35 percent in its second weekend. 

The Call of the Wild, starring Ford alongside a CGI dog in the latest cinematic adaptation of Jack London's classic novel, opened with $24.8 million at the domestic box office, surpassing early projections that placed it in the high teen millions. Internationally, the film grossed $15.4 million across 40 territories, bringing its worldwide opening to $40.2 million. 

"It's a beloved classic and somewhat of a timeless story and with Harrison's performance, it elevates the film to a level of bringing people out," Cathleen Taff, Disney's distribution chief, tells THR. 

The family movie, directed by Chris Sanders and inherited by Disney following its acquisition of Fox, boasts a hefty production budget of $125 million to $150 million before marketing. The film drew equal numbers of male and female audiences and across all ages, with 29 percent representing moviegoers 17 and under.

Looking ahead to the coming weeks, Taff hopes The Call of the Wild will continue to play to a broad audience. "We’ve see with our key cities being into some of the older skewing markets, and that audience tends to come out later so we’re excited to see that but given the response, we think the audience will also broaden out to families especially as Sonic clears itself out," she says.

Warner Bros' Margot Robbie-led DC anti-heroine movie Birds of Prey kicked up $6.7 million domestically in its third weekend, landing the third place spot in this week's box office race. Internationally, it collected another $10 million across 78 markets, bringing its worldwide total to $173.7 million. 

Sony's Bad Boys For Life collected another $5.9 million in its sixth week in theaters, taking the fourth spot. The Will Smith and Martin Lawrence action movie has grossed $191 million at the domestic box office since its release, and $379 million worldwide. The studio's Little Women adaptation from Greta Gerwig hit a milestone at the box office this weekend as it crossed $200 million worldwide.

STX and Lakeshore Entertainment's horror sequel Brahms: The Boy II, opened with $5.9 million domestically this weekend, keeping in line with projections. The audience was 53 percent female and 47 percent male, with 56 percent of moviegoers under 25. The stand-alone sequel to 2016's The Boy stars Katie Holmes, Ralph Ineson, Owain Yeoman and Christopher Convery.

Meanwhile, Neon's South Korean genre-bending thriller Parasite continues seeing a post-Oscars boost as it drummed up another $3.1 million from 1,800 screens over three days, taking its domestic box office total to $49 million. The Bong Joon Ho film has become Neon's most successful release. 

Universal Pictures' war epic 1917, which won three Oscars, grossed $4.4 million in its ninth week of release, bringing its domestic total to $152 million.

Other holdovers this weekend include Universal's romantic drama The Photograph starring Issa Rae and LaKeith Stanfield, which grossed $2.8 million in its second weekend, bringing its domestic box office haul to $17.6 million. Searchlight Pictures' Downhill, a remake of Force Majeure starring Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Will Ferrell, picked up $1.4 million in its second weekend, bringing its domestic gross to $7.4 million. 

At the specialty box office, Focus Features' period piece Emma grossed $230,000 across five theaters, with a strong per screen average of $46,000. The movie, directed by Autumn de Wilde and starring Anya Taylor-Joy, Johnny Flynn and Bill Nighy, unsurprisingly drew more females with 69 percent of the audience being women, and also drawing an older audience, with 58 percent of the movie-goers being 35 and over. It will expand to more theaters nationwide this week.

Amazon Studios' Seberg, starring Kristen Stewart as French New Wave actress Jean Seberg, grossed $60,500 from three theaters, with a per screen average of $20,200. It will expand to over 300 theaters in the coming week. 

WarnerMedia's Impractical Jokers: The Movie, produced by Funny or Die and TruTV and based on the hidden camera reality comedy series, laughed up $2.5 million from 350 screens, with a per screen average of $5,500. Pantelion Films’ Spanish-language Las Pildoras De Mi Novio (My Boyfriend's Meds), directed by Diego Kaplan, grossed $1.4 million from 350 screens, with a per screen average of $4,000. 

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2020-02-23 16:16:59Z
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