[BOX OFFICE USA] The Diary of a Wimpy Kid surpasses expectations, while Mufasa proves to be incredibly resilient

Experts had predicted an opening weekend for The Diary of a Wimpy Kid in the range of $25 to $30 million at U.S. theaters, but Universal and DreamWorks' new animated film far exceeded expectations, grossing $36 million domestically. This allowed the film to almost break even on its budget in just three days, delivering the best start of the year by far. The other new release, The Partner, didn’t manage to surpass predictions, taking second place with $9.5 million. Meanwhile, Mufasa, the Lion King prequel, is still holding strong, with interest dropping by only 29% in its seventh weekend after its release.

The Diary of a Wimpy Kid is based on Dav Pilkey's children's graphic novel series that began in 2016 and is a spinoff of the 2017 Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie, also based on Pilkey's work. The Captain Underpants film was a huge hit eight years ago, made for just $38 million and grossing $125 million worldwide. The Diary of a Wimpy Kid didn’t cost much more: it had a budget of $40 million, which it has already surpassed in global earnings, despite the fact that it’s only just started screening in a few places outside the U.S. (it won’t arrive in Hungarian theaters until February 20).

The animated comedy was directed by Peter Hastings, who has mostly worked as a writer on animated series (Pinky and the Brain, Animaniacs, Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness), and features the voices of Pete Davidson, Lil Rel Howery, Isla Fisher, Poppy Liu, Stephen Root, Billy Boyd, and Ricky Gervais. The story follows a police dog who, after an injury, is given superpowers through life-saving surgery and takes on the villainous Petey, a cat.

The Partner has received good reviews and a solid B+ in CinemaScore for the horror genre. The $9.5 million opening is respectable, especially considering the budget is reportedly under $10 million, so it could become profitable. Drew Hancock’s directorial debut shows the horrors of modern love, starring Sophie Thatcher and Jack Quaid.

Mufasa added $6.1 million to its domestic total, and One of Them Days came in just behind with $6 million, a 25% drop from the previous weekend. Flight Risk, which opened in first place last week, plummeted to fifth, experiencing the biggest revenue drop in the top 10 (-52%) with its action-thriller starring Mel Gibson and Mark Wahlberg.

In sixth place, Sonic the Hedgehog 3 made $3.2 million, bringing its total domestic revenue to $230.5 million. While Mufasa is still leading in terms of global earnings, Sonic 3 has now crossed $450 million worldwide, making it the second highest-grossing video game adaptation of all time, surpassing Detective Pikachu ($449 million), just behind Super Mario Bros..

Box Office USA:

Revenue figures are in dollars, and the weekend data reflects estimated earnings from Friday to Sunday. The current rankings show the position for this week, with last week’s position in parentheses, and no position for new releases. Revenue data is sourced from The Numbers and Box Office Guru.