‘Sonic the Hedgehog 3’ makes big win at pre-Christmas box office

Sonic the Hedgehog 3 became the highest grossing film during pre-Christmas week against Disney’s hyped-up prequal, Mufasa: The Lion King.

The Paramount Pictures animated movie, which received rave reviews,  beat its initial expectations of $55 million to $60 million, according to Variety.

Meanwhile, Mufasa brought in $35 million falling way behind then it’s initial expectations of $50 million.

Both films were released on Friday, December 20th, but Sonic appears to have taken the lead at the box office.

“As we’ve seen this franchise’s audience grow, we saw a window in the marketplace in December where we thought we could stand out,” Paramount’s president of domestic distribution Chris Aronson said in a statement.

“We’ve been able to accomplish that. Sonic is going to dominate through the holidays.”

Sonic the Hedgehog 3, reunited director Jeff Fowler with star-studded cast including Jim Carrey, Keanu Reeves, Ben Schwartz, Colleen O'Shaughnessey and Idris Elba.

The story follows Sonic (Schwartz), Knuckles (Elba) and Tails (O'Shaughnessey) as they team to face their most powerful adversary yet, Shadow the Hedgehog (Reeves) with powers unlike anything they have faced before.

Trailing behind Sonic the Hedgehog 3 and Mufasa: The Lion King was Wicked and Moana 2. 

The third installment for Sonic is slated for a worldwide release on December, 25th.