The 2025 box office has a new number one movie with Den of Thieves 2‘s debut, as the January 10-12 weekend figures are finalized. Lionsgate handled the domestic release of Gerard Butler’s Den of Thieves sequel, with the movie expected to perform close to, if not below, the opening of the original 2018 action crime film. This came as Den of Thieves 2 marked the biggest new release of the weekend, followed by Paramount’s risky bet on Better Man and expansions for The Last Showgirl and Hard Truths.

The release of Den of Thieves 2 and others helped bring some new тιтles into the mix as the new year moves forward. Last weekend, it was Mufasa: The Lion King‘s box office and Sonic the Hedgehog 3 battling for the top spot. It was expected that Mufasa would stay atop the box office once more and hold off the action sequel, as detailed in our Den of Thieves 2 and Better Man box office preview. However, the final numbers for the domestic box office from January 10-12, 2025 reveal a new #1 movie and top 10 chart.

Den Of Thieves 2’s #1 Opening Weekend Box Office: How It Stacks Up To The Original, Other Gerard Butler Movies & More

Den Of Thieves 2 Made $15 Million

Den of Thieves 2: Pantera performed better than expected at the box office in its opening weekend. The film pulled in $15,022,909, good enough to stop Mufasa from repeating as the number one movie in the country. This came after Lionsgate put the film in over 3,000 theaters and the sequel got better reviews than the original, although it still landed as “Rotten” on Rotten Tomatoes with critics.

The $15 million opening weekend for Den of Thieves 2 is just behind what the first movie did in 2018. Den of Thieves made $15.2 million in its opening, where it finished the weekend in second place. The action crime sequel headlined by Gerard Butler is a step up in the franchise’s standing at the box office. This comes after Lionsgate’s strategic early January release, which has a history of being a good spot for mid-budget action films starring Jason Statham, Liam Neeson, and more.

Lionsgate has to be happy with Den of Thieves 2‘s performance in particular. It is the studio’s first movie to open #1 at the box office since 2023’s The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. The franchise prequel did so in November 2023, so it had been 14 months since Lionsgate had the highest grossing film of a weekend. That’s the direct result of its 2024 slate not delivering in many ways. Den of Thieves 2 is an early win for them in what should be a much bigger year.

Gerard Butler’s return as Big Nick also is a big win for him, as this is the ninth biggest opening weekend of his career. It is behind all three of his Has Fallen movies and 2009’s Law Abiding Citizen, but it’s a stronger effort than his other recent action films Geostorm ($13.2 million), Plane ($10.2 million), Hunter Killer ($6.6 million), and Kandahar ($2.3 million). That’s a great sign for Butler considering he’s also got Greenland: Migration and Universal’s live-action How To Train Your Dragon coming later this year. His 2025 box office run is off to a good start.

Why Better Man’s Opening Weekend Box Office Is So Low

The Robbie Williams CGI-Monkey Biopic Is Struggling

After playing in only six theaters the last two weeks, Better Man‘s wide expansion was ideally a time for Paramount to start recouping more of the cost sunken into the Robbie Williams biopic where he’s a CGI monkey. Although it carries a $110 million budget, Paramount only paid $25 million to acquire the film. Still, box office projections only called for a $2 million opening, with our predictions hoping Better Man‘s reviews would draw in a slightly higher figure. The movie barely made more than $1 million this weekend, finishing as the 13th film over that frame.

The harsh reality is that there’s been disconnect between the film and audiences for some time. Most viewers domestically do not know who Robbie Williams is, and the CGI monkey component may have turned off more people than brought them in. That’s a real shame considering how great Better Man is. Perhaps the expanding release strategy was wrong for this тιтle. But, if Better Man is also struggling to get U.K. audiences into theaters where Robbie is a much bigger star, maybe this was just never going to do well at the theaters.

The hope for Paramount is that Better Man will somehow strike up more interest in the weeks to come, following the playbook of director Michael Gracey’s other musical movie, 2017’s The Greatest Showman. It made more in its second, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth weekends than it did in its first ($8.8 million). However, that film had a lot more starpower – Hugh Jackman, Zac Efron, Zendaya, etc. – and a simpler story. Better Man needs a lot of help to get that kind of turnaround, but it deserves to be seen on the big screen.

Sonic The Hedgehog 3 & A Complete Unknown Crossed Major Box Office Milestones

Sonic 3 & Bob Dylan’s Biopic Keep Going Strong

Sonic the Hedgehog 3 may have finished in third place at the box office this weekend, but it still crossed a major milestone by making $11 million. The film’s domestic total now sits at $204 million. That’s only the second time a video game movie has surpᴀssed $200 million and the first time it’s happened for the Sonic franchise. The other, The Super Mario Bros. Movie, made a record $574.9 million domestically. Sonic the Hedgehog 3 isn’t going to challenge that lofty total, but it’s still well on track to becoming the highest-grossing Sonic movie worldwide.

A Complete Unknown also achieved a new box office milestone with its $5 million third weekend. This brings the box office haul for the Bob Dylan biopic starring Timothée Chalamet to over $50 million domestically. That’s no small accomplishment for the film. Interest is declining slowly and could even stand to increase should Chalamet and A Complete Unknown continue to earn recognition this awards season.

Other Takeaways From January 10-12’s Weekend Box Office

There Are Intriguing Trends & Developments

Mufasa and Sonic 3 have been the biggest films at the 2025 box office overall to this point, but they are starting to lose a bit of steam. This is bound to happen as both films start to lose theaters to make room for Den of Thieves 2, Better Man, and other new тιтles coming out. However, Mufasa and Sonic 3 had their worst drops at the box office this past weekend; Mufasa dropped 39.4% and Sonic 3 dipped 46.8%. That’s not great considering the new тιтles are not direct compeтιтion for the family-targeted audience.

It’s also worth noting that Babygirl continues to perform well for Nicole Kidman and A24. After having just a 0.5% drop in its second weekend, the erotic thriller had another small drop in weekend three at only 30.6%. Kidman’s movie has now made over $20 million at the domestic box office. It could surpᴀss 2019’s Bombshell ($31.7 million) next, which would make it Kidman’s biggest hit domestically as a lead since 2008’s Australia ($49.5 million).

The Last Showgirl also showed out at the box office in its expansion. Although its $1.5 million haul might not seem that great at first, it’s a higher total than projections called for. That’s likely thanks to Pamela Anderson’s Oscar campaign really beginning, as well as Jamie Lee Curtis gaining recognition for the film. Roadside Attractions could see the film continue to do well in the weeks to come, especially if the Oscars nominate Anderson.

The indie movie scene did quite well as A24 began to expand The Brutalist. Despite only being in 68 theaters, Brady Corbet’s three-plus-hour epic had the highest per-theater average gross at $20,407 after making $1.3 million. That mᴀssive average will not hold as more theaters get it, but it’s a good sign that audiences are very interested in seeing the Oscar contender. Furthermore, Bleecker Street’s Hard Truths had the second best per-theater average at $7,810.

Nosferatu had another solid performance at the box office in its third weekend too. By making another $6.8 million, Robert Eggers’ film had made over $80 million domestically. It also made $13.7 million internationally, bringing Nosferatu‘s grand total to $135 million. That’s notable since it makes Nosferatu bigger than Longlegs to be 2024’s highest-grossing non-prequel, non-sequel horror movie. All is not well for Vertical’s horror film The Damned, though, as it had the worst drop of the weekend at 76.1%.

The box office also shifted significantly with Gladiator II dropping out of the weekend top 10 for the first time. The $1.2 million performance coincides with the film being available on digital, so it’s no wonder it fell down to 12th overall. With Ridley Scott’s action film sitting at $170 million domestic, it will not surpᴀss Gladiator‘s $187.7 million domestic haul now, even if it still makes up the current $10 million difference to beat it worldwide. With Gladiator II out, India’s action film Game Changer did well enough to finish at nine.

What The January 10-12 Weekend Box Office Means For The Next Week

Will Den Of Thieves 2 Stay #1?

Looking ahead to next weekend briefly, Den of Thieves 2 is in a good position to keep doing well after its number one opening. It could be hurt as Universal debuts Wolf Man, but the R-rated horror movie is not directly targeting the same audience. The two movies could battle for the top spot then.

This also leaves a growing list of movies hoping to find a spot in the top 10 for January 17-19’s box office. Den of Thieves 2, Mufasa, Sonic 3, Nosferatu, Moana 2, Wicked, A Complete Unknown, Babygirl, Game Changer, and The Last Showgirl will hope to retain their spots, while Wolf Man, One Of Them Days, and Wish You Were Here are new releases hoping to enter the mix. Then there’s The Brutalist, Better Man, and others hoping to rise up the box office charts.

Note: Box office data from Box Office Mojo