Wolf Man Struggles at Box Office in Historically Low MLK Day Weekend

This week’s new releases, horror movie Wolf Man and comedy One of Them Days, struggled at the box office in their opening weekend, as they’re both projected to fall behind one of the holiday season’s prominent holdovers. Nearly a month following its theatrical premiere, Disney’s Mufasa: The Lion King is poised to take the top spot over the extended Martin Luther King Day weekend, grossing $16.5 million. One of Them Days is right behind in second with $14-15 million, while Wolf Man has to settle for third place, earning $12 million. Mufasa‘s haul is the lowest for an MLK Day winner since 1997’s Beverly Hills Ninja (not counting 2021, when the box office was still feeling the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic).

According to Deadline, rounding out the top five are Sonic the Hedgehog 3 ($10.3 million) and last week’s champion Den of Thieves 2: Pantera ($8.25 million). Overall, this year’s MLK Day box office is the second-lowest in the last decade (again, not counting 2021).

Wolf Man fared very poorly when compared to director Leigh Whannell’s previous Universal Monsters film, 2020’s acclaimed Invisible Man reboot. Leading up to its premiere, the reboot earned largely negative reviews, with critics using phrases such as “boring,” “generic,” and “a terrible misfire” to describe it. In contrast, The Invisible Man‘s enthusiastic word-of-mouth led to a strong $28.2 million domestic opening. That film took home $70.4 million in the U.S. and $144.4 million worldwide (against a $7 million production budget) before theaters closed due to the pandemic.

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Meanwhile, Mufasa‘s surprise win over the holiday frame is the latest chapter in the film’s rollercoaster box office arc. After getting off to a rough start, losing its opening weekend to Sonic the Hedgehog 3, Mufasa bounced back with a win during Christmas and stands at $549.2 million worldwide, good enough for eighth place among 2024 releases on the global charts. While its total is nowhere close to the 2019 remake of The Lion King (which grossed $1.6 billion), Mufasa rebounded nicely and avoided becoming a disastrous box office bomb.

Historically, early January has proven to be a lucrative launchpad for horror films, with Universal reaping the benefits of M3GAN ($180 million worldwide) a few years back. The studio was probably hoping for similar results with Wolf Man, especially considering the reception to Whannell’s Invisible Man. It’s most likely that the negative reviews had an impact on Wolf Man‘s box office prospects, as audiences did not feel compelled to check it out on the big screen. The movie’s saving grace is its low production budget ($25 million), so it’s possible it could still have a profitable theatrical run.

Whannell has talked about his interest in making a third Universal Monsters movie, with his eye set on a take on Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. It will be interesting to see if Wolf Man‘s critical and commercial performance has any effect on that idea getting the green light. Perhaps the studio will see this as just a blip on the radar; Whannell has a solid track record as a director (The Invisible Man and Upgrade earned widespread praise), and the filmmaker has an established relationship with Universal. If Wolf Man turns a profit and Whannell comes up with a great pitch for his next monster movie, the studio may be willing to roll the dice and hope it’s more akin to The Invisible Man.