The Sheep Detectives Earns Hugh Jackman’s Biggest Non-Marvel Box Office Debut In 11 Years

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The Sheep Detectives is herding audiences into theaters.

The new comedy mystery, The Sheep Detectives, broke box office records when it opened. Written by Craig Mazin (known for Chernobyl and The Last of Us) and directed by Kyle Balda (The Lorax, Minions), the film centers around the investigation into the death of a shepherd by his surprisingly inquisitive flock of sheep. The movie boasts a fantastic cast, including Hugh Jackman in the lead role, alongside Nicholas Galitzine, Nicholas Braun, Hong Chau, Molly Gordon, and Emma Thompson. Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Regina Hall, Bryan Cranston, Chris O’Dowd, Bella Ramsey, Rhys Darby, Brett Goldstein, and Patrick Stewart provide voice work for the animated characters.

According to Deadline, The Sheep Detectives is expected to bring in $14.9 million domestically over its opening weekend. While the final numbers could change a bit, this is already the best opening weekend for a non-Marvel movie starring Hugh Jackman since he appeared in the 2015 film Pan, where he played Blackbeard. Pan earned $15.3 million during its opening weekend and also starred Levi Miller as Peter Pan, Rooney Mara as Tiger Lily, and Garrett Hedlund as James Hook.

The new film, The Sheep Detectives, had a surprisingly strong opening weekend, performing better than several of Hugh Jackman’s previous hits, including the popular musical The Greatest Showman ($8.8 million) and the Oscar-nominated Song Sung Blue ($7.1 million). Here’s a look at how all of Hugh Jackman’s theatrical releases between 2015 and 2026 have performed on their opening weekends. (This list doesn’t include Free Guy from 2021, as Jackman only had a small voice role in that film.)

Title Domestic Debut Worldwide Box Office
Pan (2015) $15.3 million $129 million
Eddie the Eagle (2015) $6.1 million $46.1 million
X-Men: Apocalypse (2016) $65.8 million $543.9 million
Logan (2017) $88.4 million $619.2 million
The Greatest Showman (2017) $8.8 million $471.9 million
The Front Runner (2018) $51,543 $3.2 million
Missing Link (2019) $5.9 million $26.6 million
Reminiscence (2021) $1.9 million $16.4 million
The Son (2022) $213,287 $3.6 million
Deadpool & Wolverine (2024) $211.4 million $1.338 billion
Song Sung Blue (2025) $7.1 million $58.2 million
The Sheep Detectives (2026) $14.9 million (proj.) TBD

The chart shows that a strong opening weekend doesn’t always mean a movie will be a big success. A good example is Hugh Jackman’s The Greatest Showman, which became the highest-grossing non-Marvel film on the chart, even though it opened with similar numbers to his less popular movies like Song Sung Blue and Eddie the Eagle. It was a surprise hit that grew in popularity over time.

I’m really hoping The Sheep Detectives does well, and honestly, even if it follows a similar path as Pan, it could still make over $125 million. But I think it has the potential to do much better! Pan was a big disappointment – it only got a 27% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and lost a ton of money. Luckily, The Sheep Detectives is getting amazing reviews – it’s ‘Certified Fresh’ with a 93% score! If people keep talking about how good it is, I think it could easily outperform Pan and be a huge success.

Okay, so everyone’s loving The Sheep Detectives, and honestly, I’m hearing the budget for this Hugh Jackman flick is surprisingly reasonable – only $75 million. That’s half of what Pan cost! Now, $75 million isn’t exactly chump change, meaning it probably needs to make around $187.5 million just to break even. But with all the buzz and, crucially, a lack of big family movies competing with it until Toy Story 5 comes out in June, I’m thinking this one could be a real winner at the box office – and maybe even a blockbuster!

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2026-05-09 20:42