Disneys Mufasa: The Lion King has work for it.

As it stands now, from Paramount Sonic the Hedgehog 3 expects a $55 million opening on the weekend of December 20-22, compared to $50 million for Mufasa: The Lion KingThis is evident from sources with access to data from the leading research agency National Research Group.

It would be annoying if Sonic succeeded in defeating it Mufasaconsidering that the summer 2019 remake The Lion King opened to a staggering $191.8 million domestically, on its way to making $1.7 billion worldwide. Like that video Mufasa is a live-action film that relies heavily on photorealistic images.

Many doubted the 2019 film directed by Jon Favreau would work, similar to the conversation swirling now Mufasa.

Disney has postponed its major marketing campaign until after Thanksgiving and is counting on tracking to steadily increase in the coming days. The final push is to play a trailer of the movie before it Moana 2which opened on Wednesday and has had a record start.

Paramount also says it has only now started releasing widely Sonic3. (The studio has been busy with Gladiator II.)

Directed by Barry Jenkins, music infused Mufasa sees Donald Glover, Seth Rogen, Billy Eichner, John Kani and Beyoncé Knowles reprise their roles from the 2019 film. Newcomers include Aaron Pierre, Kelvin Harrison Jr., Thandiwe Newton, Lenni James, Anika Noni rose and Blue Ivy Carter in her feature film debut. Lin-Manuel Miranda wrote the film’s songs.

The origin story follows the adventures of two young lions, Mufasa and Taka, who become fast friends after Mufasa is orphaned and adopted by Taka’s royal family. Mufasa eventually becomes king of the Pride Lands and father of Simba, while Taka takes a more sinister turn and becomes known as Scar.

Sonica live-action/CGI hybrid based on the Sega video game, was a goldmine for Paramount and a major success story. The first Sonic the hedgehog film opened well above expectations with a $58 million domestic debut in February 2020, a month before the pandemic closed theaters. That was followed by a domestic opening of $72.1 million in March 2022 Sonic titles skewed masculine, the sequel saw a robust family business, which means Sonic3 could provide direct competition Mufasa.

The latest installment in the Sonic franchise introduces Keanu Reeves as the popular video game character Shadow. He is dark and edgy, but has similar powers to the heroic hedgehog. The threequel finds franchise antagonist Dr. Robotnik (Jim Carrey) depressed and out of shape. He gets back in the saddle thanks to the creation of Shadow to take down Sonic, voiced by Ben Schwartz.

Mufasa And Sonic anchor the Christmas calendar this year. As always, movies opening the weekend before Christmas are not known for huge openings, as many moviegoers are otherwise busy making final preparations for the holidays. Instead, Hollywood studios are banking on larger-than-usual numbers with children out of school and adults out of work during the end-of-year holidays.