rewrite this title How ‘Mufasa: The Lion King’ Became a Sleeper Hit

Mustafa has life in him after all.

“Mufasa: The Lion King,” a photorealistic “Lion King” prequel, arrived on cat paws at the Christmas box office, collecting a weak $35 million in its first weekend in theaters, or 30 percent less than Disney had expected.

The company had been hoping that “Mufasa” would add to investor confidence about a turnaround at Walt Disney Studios. Instead, it prompted a new worry: Perhaps the money-gushing “Lion King” franchise (movie and TV spinoffs, a smash stage musical, theme park attractions, the sale of countless stuffed Simbas) was starting to slow. The franchise is 30 years old, after all.

But “Mufasa,” which cost $200 million to make, has since become a sleeper success. It was on pace sell roughly $16.5 million in tickets from Friday through Monday, enough for No. 1 and bringing its domestic total to about $211 million. That would push the movie into the box office top 10 for 2024. Globally, “Mufasa” has now been No. 1 for five weeks running, and domestic and overseas ticket sales now total around $600 million.

Box office analysts estimated on Saturday that “Mufasa” could add an additional $75 million to $100 million to its worldwide total by the end of its run in theaters.

Competition for family viewers probably hurt “Mufasa” when it debuted on Dec. 20. Other movies going after the same audience included “Sonic the Hedgehog 3,” “Wicked” and Disney’s own “Moana 2.” “Mufasa,” directed by Barry Jenkins, was the only prequel of the bunch, and prequels usually have less urgent “need to see,” to use Hollywood jargon: Why rush out to find out how a story starts when you already know how it ends?

But competition has eased. The only new movies to arrive over the weekend were “One of Them Days,” a low-budget, R-rated comedy, and “Wolf Man,” an R-rated horror movie. The historical drama “September 5,” which has received strong reviews, had been scheduled for wide release on Friday. But after the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences pushed back nominations voting for the Oscars because of the Los Angeles fires, Paramount Pictures delayed the film’s rollout in the hopes that it will get nominations that it can then use in ads. (A wide release for “September 5” is now planned for early February.)

“Mufasa” has also benefited from attention on social media. Over the Christmas and New Year’s holiday period, Disney marketers noticed that TikTok users were embracing original songs written for the film by Lin-Manuel Miranda — in particular, the jaunty ode to sibling-hood, “I Always Wanted a Brother.” Disney rushed to amplify the trend, releasing extended video clips of musical sequences from the film and boosting music-related advertising. The studio had Mr. Miranda make videos of himself talking about the song.

While promoting “Mufasa” on “The Jennifer Hudson Show” in December, Aaron Pierre, who voices Simba’s father in the movie, danced as he walked to the stage. A video showcasing his moves has since gone viral, undoubtedly adding to interest in the film.

It was a good weekend at the box office for Disney for another reason. “Moana 2” crossed $1 billion worldwide, becoming the studio’s third release of 2024 to do so. (The other two were “Inside Out 2” and “Deadpool & Wolverine.”)

No other studio had even one billion-dollar movie last year.