Receipts: 'Dog Man' topples the big cat 'Mufasa' for top spot at the domestic box office
Domestic: Dog Man, released Friday, January 31, 2025, took the number one spot at the domestic box office with a gross of $36 million. With a budget of $40 million and a worldwide gross of $40.5 million in its first week in theaters, the film has received positive reviews with 78% on Rotten Tomatoes, setting up the film to be a box office success.
Dog Man is based on the children’s graphic novel series of the same name by Dav Pilkey. The film follows a police officer who, after getting into a fatal accident with his dog, has his body sewn onto the head of his dog to save them both, creating the hybrid person of Dog Man. The film stars Pete Davidson as Petey, an evil cat, and Lil Rel Howery as Chief, a police chief. Dog Man is the second animated feature film adaptation of the “Captain Underpants” novel series, with the first Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie being released Friday, July 13, 2018.
Mufasa: The Lion King (2024) lost its top spot at the box office, falling from number two last weekend to number three. The film grossed an additional $6.3 million, adding to its worldwide gross of $653.3 million against its $200 million budget, solidifying it as a box-office success for Disney. The film’s financial success despite its less than stellar critical performance follows the trend of Disney’s other live-action remakes of their classic animated film catalog which sees the film more than making back their budget amidst criticism of bland scripts and lack of relevance.
The first theatrically-released R-rated Black female comedy since Girls Trip (2017), One of Them Days (2025) dropped from the number 3 spot to number four at the box office, grossing $5.8 million and adding to its worldwide gross of $34.4 million. With a budget of $14 million, the film is just short of being a box-office success. The film has received critical praise with a 95% on Rotten Tomatoes, the film’s poor performance has been placed on Sony’s poor marketing campaign for the film as well as its delayed premiere due to the Palisades fire in Los Angeles on Friday, January 13, 2025.
Moana 2 (2024) has continued to perform strongly, despite being released in November of 2024. The film dropped from its number five spot to number seven, taking in $2.8 million, adding to its worldwide gross of $1.037 billion against its budget of $150 million, certifying it as a box office success.
Den of Thieves 2: Pantera (2025) lost its number nine spot at the box office to The Brutalist (2025), dropping to number ten. The film grossed $1.59 million the past weekend, adding to its worldwide gross of $49.5 million. With a budget of $40 million, the film is currently bombing at the box office despite receiving stronger reviews than its predecessor, Den of Thieves (2018) which received a 41% compared to the sequel which received a 62% with particular praise towards the performances of Gerard Butler and O’Shea Jackson Jr.
The box office failure of Den of Thieves 2: Pantera can also be attributed to the seven-year gap between films which resulted in the film opening to an audience unfamiliar with the franchise as the original film had fallen out of the pop culture dialogue.
International: In the South Korean box office, Hitman 2, released Wednesday, January 22, 2025, took the number one spot. The film grossed $2.8 million, adding to its total gross of $13 million with a 39.24% market share. The film is a sequel to Hitman: Agent Jun (2020) and follows Jun, played by Kwong Sang-woo, who is wrongly accused of a terrorist attack.
Dark Nuns (2025), a supernatural thriller, took the number two spot at the South Korean box office with a weekend gross of $1.5 million. With a total gross of $9.5 million, the film also holds a 21.77% market share. The film is a spin-off of The Priests (2015) which was released to critical acclaim, garnering eight awards for Park So-dam, a supporting actress in the film.
Secret: Untold Melody, released Monday, January 27, 2025, took the number three spot at the South Korean box office. The film grossed $1.03 million, adding to its worldwide gross of $2.3 million with a 14.4% market share. The film is a remake of Secret (2007), a Taiwanese film.
The film follows Kim Yu-jun (Doh Kyung-soo), a promising pianist who suffers a tragic accident, abruptly ending his career. While at a music school, he meets Yoo-Jung-a (Won Jin-ah), a mysterious woman connected to his past. The film received mixed to positive reviews, with praise towards the performances and updated elements of the original but criticism towards the perceived inferiority to the original.
Harbin (2024) dropped to number four after spending weeks at number one. The film grossed an additional $385, 705 with a 5.36% market share. Harbin is a biopic about the real-life assassination of the first Prime Minister of Japan Ito Hirobumi at the hands of Ahn Jung-geun in 1909.
Streaming: Back in Action, a Netflix original film, released Friday, January 17, 2025, held the number one spot for two weeks with 46.8 million views and 88.9 hours watched. Starring Jamie Foxx and Cameron Diaz, the film follows retired CIA agents who hide off the grid with their children before getting pulled back into a world of espionage. The film was critically panned with a 28% on Rotten Tomatoes. Critics praised Foxx and Diaz’s chemistry but criticized the weak script and direction.
To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before (2018) took the number six spot in Netflix’s top ten with 3.1 million views and 5.2 million hours watched. The film was released on Netflix to critical acclaim with a 96% on Rotten Tomatoes and several successful sequels and future spin-offs in the works. The film follows Lara Jean (Lara Condor) who wrote several letters to the boys she had crushes on when she was younger. Years later, she finds out her letters were sent to the boys and she is forced to deal with the consequences.
