The heist movie sequel Den of Thieves 2: Pantera has kicked off Lionsgate’s 2025 with a bang, while the Robbie Williams biopic Better Man, featuring the pop star as a CGI monkey, flounders in its wide expansion. Lionsgate, which is both a production company and distributor, released a string of notable flops into theaters in the second half of 2024, including White Bird, Francis Ford Coppola’s Megalopolis, The Crow, Borderlands, and The Killer’s Game. While movies like November 2024’s The Best Christmas Pageant Ever did make their money back, Lionsgate has not had a substantial blockbuster hit in some time.

Per ᴅᴇᴀᴅline, as of Saturday morning, Den of Thieves 2: Pantera is projected to earn a three-day domestic opening weekend total of $15.5 million. This is even with the original 2018 movie’s $15.2 million debut and allows the sequel to take No. 1 in an upset that sees neither Mufasa nor Sonic the Hedgehog 3 topping the chart. Those тιтles have consistently battled for No. 1 after premiering on December 20. In addition to breaking Lionsgate’s streak of disappointments, Pantera marks their first No. 1 debut since The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes opened in November 2023.

Meanwhile, the wide expansion of Better Man has not been received with open arms by North American moviegoers. Its current projections show it earning a three-day total of just $1 million, which see landing entirely outside of the Top 10, falling below the No. 10 тιтle, the Pamela Anderson vehicle The Last Showgirl, which is expected to earn $1.5 million. See the full domestic box office Top 5 chart for the weekend below:

Although Den of Thieves 2 has made a splash, as the only major new wide release, it has not changed much of the rest of the chart. The previous weekend’s Top 4 тιтles have all been pushed down one slot on the chart, beginning with Mufasa: The Lion King, now No. 2 with an $11.7 million 3-day haul representing a drop of just 50%. Meanwhile, Sonic the Hedgehog 3 has dropped 59%, Nosferatu has fallen 52%, and Moana 2 has seen a 53% fall. None of these week-on-week drops are unusual, considering how far into their respective runs they are.

Meanwhile, Wicked has dropped out of the Top 5, falling from No. 5 to No. 6 in its eighth weekend with a 3-day total of $4.55 million that sees it dropping 54%. This is the first time since the Wicked release kicked off the weekend before Thanksgiving in 2024 that the movie has spent a single weekend outside the Top 5. This follows from its first single day outside the Top 5, which was January 6, when it took No. 6 behind Mufasa, Sonic, Nosferatu, Moana, and the Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown.

What This Means For Den Of Thieves 2 & Lionsgate

2025 Could Turn Things Around

This solid kickoff to the Den of Thieves 2: Pantera release could result in the movie, which reunites stars Gerard Butler and O’Shea Jackson Jr. with writer-director Christian Gudegast, legging out to an overall worldwide total that matches the original movie. If it maintains its current trajectory, it could potentially earn $80 million worldwide. This would more than double its $40 million budget and, while it may not entirely cause the movie to break even in theaters, would set it on the road to profitability with its video on demand and streaming releases.

While 2024 may not have been as devastating to Lionsgate as the raw box office numbers make it seem, considering the fact that they are only on the hook for distribution costs for some of their movies and that they offset large portions of big-budget movies like Borderlands with international licensing, their 2025 is already looking to be a vast improvement. Their upcoming roster already includes the Mark Wahlberg thriller Flight Risk, the John Wick spinoff Ballerina, and the sequels Saw XI and Now You See Me 3, which could potentially result in a slew of additional No. 1 тιтles.

Our Take On The Weekend Box Office

Den Of Thieves 2 Has A Bright Future

While the Better Man release seems to be a bust in North America, Den of Thieves 2: Pantera could very well continue to thrive. It is well-placed in January, as it has very little major blockbuster compeтιтion. While it will have to weather the arrival of the Blumhouse Wolf Man reboot during its sophomore weekend, theaters will be relatively quiet until the debut of Captain America: Brave New World on February 14, allowing it a lot of runway to keep attracting moviegoers throughout early 2025.

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Source: ᴅᴇᴀᴅline