The weekend box office for January 17-20, which expands to four days for Martin Luther King Jr. Day, delivered some surprising results domestically. After Den of Thieves 2 became the #1 movie at the box office in its opening weekend, the film had hopes of still competing for a top 3 spot as Universal’s Wolf Man reimagining and Keke Palmer’s comedy One of Them Days hit theaters. The expectation was that either of the new releases would come out on top of the box office over the traditional 3-day weekend, as well as the extended 4-day weekend.

That’s what projections called for, and our Wolf Man and One of Them Days box office preview reflected this notion. Tracking called for an easy win for Universal’s horror monster movie, but the end result was completely different. Wolf Man struggled to find an audience, while Den of Thieves 2 had a larger drop than anticipated. This all came as Mufasa: The Lion King‘s box office barely dropped and One of Them Days came in on the higher end of projections. The weekend box office recap for January 17-20 is different than expected as a result.

Mufasa: The Lion King Was The #1 Movie At The Box Office This Weekend After Overtaking One Of Them Days

One Of Them Days Nearly Won The 3-Day Weekend

Thanks to MLK Day factoring into the weekend box office, Mufasa: The Lion King beat One of Them Days to be the #1 movie in the country. This was not fully expected because Disney’s The Lion King prequel/sequel only had a 15.2% drop in its fifth weekend of release. That’s a remarkable hold for Mufasa and gives it its third weekend at the top of box office charts domestically. The strong word of mouth for the film and its recognizable IP have continued to pay dividends.

Still, One of Them Days came very close to winning the box office in its debut weekend. This would have been quite an accomplishment for the Keke Palmer comedy. A true comedic film has not been the #1 movie at the weekend box office in nearly three years. Jackᴀss Forever was the last comedy to open at #1 and that was back in February 2022. One of Them Days‘ record-breaking Rotten Tomatoes score for Palmer and its A- CinemaScore shows how much audiences and critics love the film. Its overperformance to the tune of $11.8M/$14M is another sign.

Wolf Man’s Poor Reception Tanks The Film’s Opening Weekend Box Office

Wolf Man Finished #3 Instead Of #1

Universal was expected to be at the top of the weekend box office thanks to Wolf Man, but the film proved to have a more middling opening than projections indicated. Instead of having an $18M+ opening, it only made $10.9 million over three days and $12.3 million over four days. The saving grace for Universal and Wolf Man is the film’s reported $25 million budget, meaning the studio could still wind up breaking even at worse on the monster film. This is less of a certainty based on the film’s reception though.

Wolf Man received mixed reviews from critics, with many skewing negative on Rotten Tomatoes. This unfavorable reaction is something audiences have felt, too, as demonstrated by its 57% Popcornmeter score and a C- CinemaScore. That puts the production, which Blumhouse was also involved in, in a position where it could suffer from harsh drops due to the poor word of mouth. Horror movies are usually seen as critic-proof to a certain degree, but those films that still succeed at the box office need audiences to latch on. So far, they have not for Wolf Man.

Den Of Thieves 2 Is Dropping Quicker Than The Original At The Box Office

The Den Of Thieves Sequel Is Falling Behind

Den of Thieves 2 also performed worse than anticipated in its second weekend of release. The film’s opening weekend gave signs of hope that Gerard Butler and O’Shea Jackson Jr.’s sequel could be a solid hit for Lionsgate early in 2025. It has better reviews than the original 2018 movie, but audiences are seemingly not as excited to see the sequel in theaters. Den of Thieves 2‘s $6.6 million second weekend is lower than the original’s $8.6 million. The $2 million difference is substantial when talking about a mid-budget action film.

Den of Thieves 2 suffered a 56% drop this past weekend, which is far worse than Den of Thieves only dropping 43% in its second frame. After opening $200K behind the original, the sequel is now trailing it by $2.6 million after the traditional second weekend. The gap closes to $2.1 million after factoring in the second Monday haul for each film. This is not a great sign for Den of Thieves 2 considering it has been the biggest R-rated action movie in theaters during this stretch, and a major compeтιтor enters the field this coming weekend with Flight Risk.

Other Takeaways From The 2025 MLK Weekend Box Office

Mufasa Continues To Perform Well For Disney

For any concerns that Mufasa: The Lion King would be a box office disappointment for Disney, the film has continued to impress after more than a month in theaters. It’s now made over $200 million domestically and is close to eclipsing $600 million worldwide. Impressively small drops like Mufasa had this weekend are not likely to keep happening, but it continues to defy conventional norms. It’s now stayed in the top 2 at the box office for five consecutive weekends, winning two of them. That’s a mᴀssive win for Disney, especially ahead of Snow White continuing the live-action remake trend.

It’s also worth noting that Moana 2 stays in the top 5 for the weekend over the extended MLK Day period but drops to 6th over the traditional 3-day weekend. This is the first time in eight weeks of release that the animated sequel fell out of top 5. It’s no wonder Moana 2 made $1 billion officially thanks to these strong holds, as this last weekend was its lowest drop, at 9.8%, other than the post-Christmas weekend that saw it increase its weekend-to-weekend haul.

Elsewhere, Nosferatu and Babygirl continue to do well and secure more milestones. Nosferatu has now made over $90 million domestically, putting it on the cusp of being the first Robert Eggers movie to make over $100 million here. Babygirl also crossed the $25 million box office milestone, which is a first for a Nicole Kidman-leading movie in 17 years.

What The January 17-20 Weekend Box Office Means For The Next Week

Flight Risk Arrives Next Weekend

The January 17-20 weekend box office puts a handful of movies in contention to keep doing well for the foreseeable future. One of Them Days is in the best position of the new тιтles, as it has the strong reviews and word of mouth to help encourage more people to watch the movie in theaters. This should help it continue to do solid business for Sony and Keke Palmer. Mufasa: The Lion King, Sonic the Hedgehog 3, and Moana 2 are also in good spots to keep performing well.

Wolf Man is in a tougher spot going forward. The early box office returns were not as strong as expected, and the mixed reception does not inspire confidence that this will change. It does not help that Steven Soderbergh’s Presence and the Sophie Thatcher and Jack Quaid film Companion come out the next two weekends and add more horror movie compeтιтion. That’s a similar place as Den of Thieves 2 is now in, with Flight Risk‘s release this weekend poised to steal some attention. This should mean a new #1 movie at the box office once again.