The above tweet from Frack’s Sonic Deals states that it was clued into the lack of “Sonic 3” daily numbers by the account LonelyGoomba. Indeed, the account in question did flag the lack of reported numbers in a tweet saying, “Sonic 3 isn’t even listed on the daily box office anymore. Disney clearly paying the website to sabotage Sonic 3 to make Mufasa look better smh.” However, just below that in the replies, the account also stated, “(I’m joking about Disney bribing them).”

(I’m joking about Disney bribing them)

— LonelyGoomba (@LonelyGoomba) January 1, 2025

Even so, replies from other users said things like, “Your joke has some truth” or “You’re probably not wrong, honestly. It’s Disney.” Despite the joke, people were ready to believe that Disney would somehow intervene with daily box office reporting. To what end, I must ask? As of this writing, “Mufasa” has made $342.5 million worldwide, while “Sonic 3” has earned $210.5 million. “Sonic 3” is slightly ahead of “Mufasa” domestically, but it’s close. 

“There’s no conspiracy because both films are performing relatively well,” Scott Mendelson, an industry-leading box office analyst who runs The Outside Scoop on Substack, told /Film. “‘Mufasa: The Lion King’ has been earning slightly more amid the last few weekdays, but both films are performing as well as (if not better than) required in terms of their respective expectations and budgets.”

While “Mufasa” has a bigger budget ($200 million vs. $120 million for “Sonic 3”), as far as the raw numbers are concerned, Disney’s “Lion King” prequel has sold more tickets globally. What motivation does Disney have to mess with these numbers? “Disney isn’t bribing Box Office Mojo and The Numbers to hide ‘Sonic the Hedgehog 3’ numbers, because neither film has anything to hide,” Mendelson added.

Granted, 2019’s “The Lion King” remake pulled in an astonishing $1.66 billion worldwide, becoming one of the biggest movies ever. So, on some level, the performance of this new movie so far could be viewed as a relative disappointment. But for a company as big as Disney, it’s hardly enough to justify any meddling of this sort. Yet, for whatever reason, people were ready and willing to believe this. Was that motivated by hardcore “Sonic” fandom? Was it hatred for Disney? Either way, it’s misplaced and unfounded.