'Sonic The Hedgehog' Is Moments Away From Shattering A Historic Box Office Record

As more and more movies flood the market and as the coronavirus disrupts the movie industry, Sonic the Hedgehog continually gets pushed further and further into the background of box office news. This past week the movie pulled in just over $10 millionto finish in fourth place at the domestic box office-well behind Onward and The Invisible Man, and slightly worse than Ben Affleck's tame The Way Back.

But it turns out that $10 million is just good enough to place Sonic the Hedgehog on the precipice of a legendary box office record.

Domestic Rankings

With a four-week total that currently stands at approximately $143.2 million, Sonic only needs less than a million more dollars to become the highest-grossing video game movie of all time. By the end of today, the film will have undoubtedly passed Pokemon Detective Pikachu, which grossed $144.1 million last year.

Here are the current all-time domestic rankings for video game movies:

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1. Pokemon Detective Pikachu ($144.1 million)
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2. Sonic the Hedgehog ($143.2 million)
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3. Lara Croft: Tomb Raider ($131.2 million)
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4. The Angry Birds Movie ($107.5 million)
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5. Rampage ($101 million)
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6. Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time ($90.8 million)
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7. Pokemon: The First Movie - Mewtwo Strikes Back ($85.7 million)
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8. Mortal Kombat ($70.5 million)
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9. Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life ($65.7 million)
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10. Resident Evil: Afterlife ($60.1 million)

The most intriguing part is that Sonic the Hedgehog still has several weeks ahead of itself to build on that lead. While the movie's box office totals slowed from $58 million on opening weekend to just $7.7 million this past weekend, we should expect Sonic to enjoy another dozen-or-so weeks in U.S. theaters before closing up shop.

During that time, Sonic will rise on the inflated rankings as well. When accounting for ticket price inflation, Sonic currently ranks as the fifth-highest-grossing video game movie ever:

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1. Lara Croft: Tomb Raider ($212.3 million)
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2. Pokemon: The First Movie - Mewtwo Strikes Back ($167.4 million)
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3. Mortal Kombat ($148.5 million)
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4. Pokemon Detective Pikachu ($144.1 million)
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5. Sonic the Hedgehog ($143.2 million)
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6. The Angry Birds Movie ($113.8 million)
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7. Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time ($105.4 million)
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8. Rampage ($101.6 million)
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9. Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life ($99.8 million)
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10. Pokemon the Movie 2000 ($78.9 million)

By this time next week, Sonic will have likely overtaken Mortal Kombat as well as Pokemon Detective Pikachu, slotting it as the third-highest-grossing video game movie ever. After that, it seems unlikely it would catch Mewtwo Strikes Back in the No. 2 position-and flat-out impossible it would ever eclipse Lara Croft 's $212.3 million total.

International Rankings

On the all-time international rankings, Sonic moved from the No. 10 position to the No. 7 spot in just on week. During that time, the film grew its global gross from $273 million to just over $300 million.

Here are those rankings as well:

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1. Warcraft ($439 million)
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2. Pokemon Detective Pikachu ($433 million)
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3. Rampage ($428 million)
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4. The Angry Birds Movie ($352.3 million)
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5. Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time ($336.4 million)
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6. Resident Evil: The Final Chapter ($312.2 million)
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7. Sonic the Hedgehog ($300+ million)
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8. Resident Evil: Afterlife ($300.2 million)
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9. Lara Croft: Tomb Raider ($274.7 million)
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10. Tomb Raider ($274.7 million)

By this time tomorrow morning, Sonic will rest above all other video game movies in the U.S. But, obviously, it has a lot more work to do if it wants that international crown.

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