It appears that Warner Bros anime film The War of the Rohirrim was unable to gain any momentum, failing to fight off its own Dunlending invasion from Sonic the Hedgehog 3 and Mufasa: The Lion King which released this weekend. According to Box Office Mojo, The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim saw a 72% drop at the domestic box office bringing in only $1.27 million.
During its opening weekend, Rohirrim managed to gross $4.6 million domestically for a total of $10.3 million globally. The War of the Rohirrim brought its total gross with $15.37 million thanks to a global take of $3.8 million being added to its lifetime sales during the second weekend.
Sonic the Hedgehog 3 was the clear winner this weekend as the Blue Blur was quick to make $62 million domestically with 3,761 screens showing blue hedgehog. Disney’s Mufasa: The Lion King made almost half that amount with $35 million domestically despite it being available in 4,100 theaters.
As stated in a previous editorial, we predicted that both Sonic the Hedgehog 3 and Mufasa: The Lion King would completely drown out The War of the Rohirrim. Rohirrim was already expected to perform poorly at the box office due to a number of factors that included it being an anime film, perception that it would be a girl boss movie, and that The Lord of the Rings brand has lost a lot of its drawing power for both Tolkien fans and the general audience.
With such a drastic drop at the domestic box office, it appears that The War of the Rohirrim will struggle to match the 1978 The Lord of the Rings animated film of $30.4 million lifetime gross.
Update: According to various news outlets, Warner Bros has announced that The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim will be released digitally this Friday, 12/27, exactly three weeks since its box office release.
