Who would have thought that Sonic the Hedgehog would be a mega-hit? I mean, Paramount probably did, but initial reaction to that first trailer was incredibly negative. Did the redesign really help smooth things over that much? If the numbers are anything to go by, that’s a resounding yes.
Sonic managed to bring in a whooping $58 million at the domestic box office for its three-day total. Reports from President’s Day puts the total at around $70 million. Lumping in international gross, there’s an additional $43 million, bringing the total to just over $110 million. This is already the most successful film based on a video game property in Hollywood history.
As for Birds of Prey, the film managed to turn things around a bit after its super disappointing opening weekend. It couldn’t hope to make a dent in Sonic’s performance, but the movie has finally become profitable for WB Pictures. An additional $17.5 million domestic gross has brought Harley’s total to around $145 million worldwide. It’s not gangbusters, but that’s nice to see.
The only other big success story of the weekend was Bong Joon-ho’s Parasite. Its historic win at the 92nd Academy Awards saw a boost in ticket sales to the tune of a 245% increase, bringing in an additional $5.6 million. It’s one of the largest increases a film has seen after its award win in box office history.
Here are the rest of the numbers for the top 10:
Sonic The Hedgehog – $58,000,000
Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey – $17,285,000
Fantasy Island – $12,350,000
The Photograph – $12,180,000
Bad Boys For Life – $11,450,000
1917 – $8,110,000
Parasite – $5,682,466
Jumanji: The Next Level – $5,510,000
Dolittle – $4,850,000
Downhill – $4,610,000
Domestic 2020 Weekend 7 [BoxOfficeMojo]