Moana 2 Staying Strong while Mufasa: The Lion King Gets a Slow Start

The Walt Disney Company has had a stellar year at the domestic box office with it’s two top grossing films of 2024 being Inside Out 2 and Deadpool & Wolverine. Then, a few weeks ago, Moana 2 sailed into theaters breaking domestic box office records over Thanksgiving weekend. And on Friday, December 20, Mufasa: The Lion King roared into theaters but its roar wasn’t load enough to make the film king of the box office.

For the weekend December 20 through December 22, Mufasa: The Lion King took the number 2 spot on the domestic box office charts while Moana 2 took 4th place.

Disney had hoped that the origin story film for Mufasa & Scar would have been a box office success over the holidays, but the film opened with a slow start grossing only $35 million during its first weekend. While there’s still hope for the film to make a strong comeback over the next few weeks, time will only tell.

After only four weeks at the box office, Moana 2 is still performing well grossing $13 million this past weekend bringing its domestic box office total to $359 million to date. While Moana 2 still has a long way to go to gross as much as Inside Out 2 and Deadpool & Wolverine did this past summer, the film is positioned to be one of the top 5 grossing films at the domestic box office for 2024.

Disney Mufasa The Lion King Movie Poster at Disney Parks — *Mufasa: The Lion King* movie poster at Disney California Adventure Park

About Mufasa: The Lion King

Mufasa: The Lion King explores the rise of the king of the Pride Lands with Rafiki relaying the story to Kiara, daughter of Simba and Nala. Timon and Pumbaa join in on the the story telling by lending their spin on the story. Told in flashbacks, the story introduces Mufasa as an orphaned cub, lost and alone until he meets a sympathetic lion named Taka, the heir to a royal bloodline. The chance meeting sets in motion an expansive journey of an extraordinary group of misfits searching for their destiny.

Disney’s Mufasa: The Lion King stars the voice talents of Aaron Pierre as Mufasa, Blue Ivy Carter as Kiara, Donald Glover as Simba, Beyoncé as Nala, John Kani as Rafiki, Billy Eichner as Timon, Seth Rogen as Pumbaa, Kelvin Harrison Jr. as Taka (who becomes Scar) and Tiffany Boone a Sarabi.

Watch the Official Trailer for Disney’s Mufasa: The Lion King

About Moana 2

Disney’s Moana 2 takes place three years after the original 2016 Disney animated film. In the sequel, Moana receives an unexpected call from her wayfinding ancestors which requires her to journey to the far seas of Oceania and into dangerous, long-lost waters for an adventure unlike anything she’s ever faced. Joining Moana on her new journey is Hei Hei (her pet rooster) and Pua (her pet pig). Moana also encounters Maui during her journey. The film introduces Moana’s younger sister, Simea and Matangi, a mysterious demigod.

Auli‘i Cravalho and Dwayne Johnson return as the voices of Moana and demigod Maui with new songs including “Beyond” performed by Auliʻi Cravalho and featuring Rachel House. Dwayne Johnson performs “Can I Get A Chee Hoo?”, another new song in the animated sequel.