Paramount’s Sonic the Hedgehog 2 surpassed its own predecessor to register the biggest-ever opening weekend for a video game adaptation. With $71 million across three days, the family-friendly sequel marks yet another win for Paramount at the box office this year. Elsewhere, Universal’s attempt at counter-programming fell flat with Ambulance, an original action film directed by the once-formidable Michael Bay.
The first Sonic the Hedgehog movie made $58 million in its opening weekend back in 2020, for an extended President’s Day weekend debut of $70 million. That film tapped out with $319 million worldwide, with its theatrical run being impacted by the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. The sequel, also directed by Jeff Fowler, brought in Idris Elba as fan-favorite character Knuckles the Echidna, with Ben Schwartz, James Marsden, and Jim Carrey reprising their roles from the first film.
The sequel marks the fourth theatrical hit for Paramount this year, following Scream, Jackass Forever, and The Lost City. The studio had offloaded most of its high-profile content to streamers during the pandemic, but wisely chose to hold on to established IP. And with an excellent A CinemaScore from opening day audiences, you can expect this one to have the legs.
In second place, Jared Leto’s poorly-reviewed antihero film Morbius registered a historic drop, falling 74% from its debut weekend. The film’s running domestic total, with $10.2 million this weekend, stands at $57 million.
The Lost City took the third spot with $9.1 million in its third weekend, taking its running domestic total to just under $69 million. Starring Sandra Bullock, Channing Tatum, Daniel Radcliffe and Brad Pitt in a much-publicized cameo, The Lost City gave a much-needed shot in the arm to the romantic comedy genre, which was believed to have fallen out of favor with theater-going audiences in recent years.
Ambulance could only muster a fourth-place debut with $8.7 million. Starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, the chase-thriller continues Bay’s poor run of form, after the lackluster fourth and fifth Transformers movies, the adult-skewing 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi and his failed attempt at starting a Netflix franchise, 6 Underground. The film will have to rely on overseas performance to become profitable.
Just slightly edging out the buzzy A24 title Everything Everywhere All at Once for the number five spot was Warner Bros.’ The Batman, which made $6.5 million in its sixth weekend, for a running domestic total of just under $360 million. Internationally, the film has made over $735 million worldwide, and remains the year’s highest-grossing film.
The next weekend is expected to go to Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore, the third film in the Harry Potter spinoff series, which debuted early with $58 million in a handful of international markets this weekend.