Preview:
- Disney’s ‘Moana 2’ launched to a huge $221 million over five days.
- It’s the biggest five-day opening number in history.
- ‘Wicked’ and ‘Gladiator II’ continued to be successful.
Box office tills both here and around the world continued to ring out (well, probably beep in this day and age) with glee as the long Thanksgiving weekend powered to a massive total.
That’s primarily thanks to the new Disney animated movie sequel ‘Moana 2,’ which locked in a new Thanksgiving box office record with $221 million domestically over the five-day holiday frame, obliterating the previous high-water marks set by 2019’s ‘Frozen II’ ($125 million) and 2013’s ‘The Hunger Games: Catching Fire.’ ($109 million).
It’s also the biggest five-day debut in history, overtaking Universal’s 2023 behemoth ‘The Super Mario Bros. Movie’ ($205.6 million).
And Disney will be happy –– the film’s three day tally of $135.5 million registers as the best start for its animation arm, ahead of ‘Frozen II’ (which opened to $130.2 million the weekend prior to Thanksgiving).
Ticket sales for the ‘Moana’ sequel were far above the early estimates of $135 million to $145 million. Worldwide, the movie has made more than $386.3 million, with launches still set for several counties this week.
eVhKz7FZ53AZP7EEDL6Yb6Here’s what Disney Entertainment co-chairman Alan Bergman had to say:
“ ‘Moana 2’ has far surpassed our high expectations this weekend and is a testament to the phenomenon that ‘Moana’ has become. This is a moment to celebrate, and we’re thankful to all the moviegoers and fans who’ve helped make this a record-breaking debut.”
While the movie was seen as something of a gamble –– it originated as a TV series spin-off to the 2016 movie, before being retooled for a theatrical release, that has certainly paid off.
It’s been a good year for Disney, thanks to the successful likes of Pixar’s ‘Inside Out 2’ (whose current worldwide box office tally stands at $1.69 billion) and ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ (now at $1.33 billion globally).
The box office in total did well, surging to more than $400 million this weekend. It’s a much needed boost for an industry that has been struggling to recover from the pandemic in particular.
And that’s also partly thanks to second week and weekends for fellow heavy hitters ‘Wicked’ and ‘Gladiator II.’
How is ‘Wicked’ performing in its second weekend at the box office?
‘Wicked’ danced through life to another huge turnout, landing in the No. 2 spot with $80 million over the traditional weekend and $117.5 million over the five-day holiday stretch.
The movie has earned $262.4 million in North America and $359.2 million globally to date.
It already ranks as the highest-grossing Broadway adaptation in domestic box office history, ahead of 1978’s ‘Grease’ ($188.62 million), as well as the fourth-biggest worldwide stage-to-screen reimagining behind 2008’s ‘Mamma Mia’ ($611 million), 2012’s ‘Les Misérables’ ($442 million) and, yes ‘Grease’ ($396 million).
RQxhOkO0isYC870cad8Zg4Directed by Jon M. Chu and starring Ariana Grande, Cynthia Erivo, Jonathan Bailey and Jeff Goldblum, the movie charts the story of what happened before and after the events of ‘The Wizard of Oz.’
There were concerns that the fact it’s part one of two might hurt sales but confirming the split between films ahead of time seems to have reassured viewers. It doesn’t hurt that the movie enjoyed positive reviews and was embraced by a large slice of the moviegoing public.
Universal will need it to stay popular –– the combined two movies come with a $300 million price tag and the company spent untold millions on a worldwide promotional tour with the cast. Still, the blizzard of Oz-related partnership deals will help.
How about ‘Gladiator II’?
‘Gladiator II’ might not be on the same level as either of its box office colleagues, but it’s certainly seeing some hefty rewards.
A sequel to Ridley Scott’s Oscar-winning 2000 original has been in development almost as long as the first film has been out, but it has taken years for Scott and a cadre of writers to crack the sequel story.
In the end, they chose to follow Lucius, the young man seen in the first film (played there by Spencer Treat Clark) who is the son of Lucilla (Connie Nielsen, who returns for the sequel).
CJVuNFCKxFBq4IsG555O72The new movie follows a grown Lucius (with rising star Paul Mescal in the role) as he finds himself enslaved by the Roman empire and forced to fight as a gladiator. He’s also drawn into the turbulent politics of Rome via Macrinus, a slave-turned-slave-owning arms dealer, played to scene-stealing effect by Denzel Washington.
Following a $55.5 million domestic opening (slightly behind predictions) the second weekend of release, the sequel took third place with $30.7 million over the traditional weekend and $44 million over the five day frame.
So far, it has grossed $111.2 million domestically and $320 million worldwide.
But, like the other movies, it needs to earn, as it was also massively expensive to make, costing more than $250 million to produce and another $100 million to market to global audiences.
What else happened at the box office this week?
With the new competition in the market place, ‘Red One’ was shoved down to fourth. Despite opening in the top spot three weeks ago, the Christmas action movie (which also stars Dwayne Johnson) has struggled somewhat.
Its stocking was filled with $12.8 million over the main weekend and $18.7 million over the five-day holiday frame.
The Amazon MGM film has grossed $75 million in North America and $148.7 million globally, which is solid but still probably behind what the company might hope for given the expansive $250 million budget.
Still, the company is partly looking for the movie to drive interest in its Prime Video streaming service.
3KNqvhA0Qekdd9wk024q03Lionsgate’s ‘The Best Christmas Pageant Ever’ rounded out the top five with $3.2 million over the traditional weekend and $4.85 million through the extended Thanksgiving period.
The family-friendly faith-based holiday film cost $10 million to make and has grossed $32 million in North America since opening four weeks ago. It won’t exactly set the studio’s heart aflame, but it’s honestly a better result than some of its underperforming releases this year. Looking at you, ‘Borderlands’ ($115 million budget before marketing costs, $32.9 million worldwide to date).
Other Animated Disney Movies:
- ‘Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs‘ (1937)
- ‘Pinocchio‘ (1940)
- ‘Alice in Wonderland‘ (1951)
- ‘Peter Pan‘ (1953)
- ‘Sleeping Beauty‘ (1959)
- ‘Wreck-It Ralph‘ (2012)
- ‘Frozen‘ (2013)
- ‘Big Hero 6‘ (2014)
- ‘Zootopia‘ (2016)
- ‘Moana‘ (2016)
- ‘Frozen II‘ (2019)
- ‘Encanto‘ (2021)
- ‘Raya and the Last Dragon‘ (2021)
- ‘Strange World‘ (2022)
- ‘Wish‘ (2023)
