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Multiple records were broken this Thanksgiving period, with three films operating at incredible levels to push the domestic box office towards a $420 million-plus five-day stretch. Disney’s Moana 2 exceeded expectations, delivering a number one finish with around $221 million in its extended Thanksgiving debut. Not only is this the biggest opening for the Thanksgiving period, it’s also the biggest five-day debut of all time, and the second-biggest three-day opening for star Dwayne Johnson. Incidentally, he also has another film in the top five this week.
Moana 2’s five-day haul puts it ahead of The Super Mario Bros.’ $204 million opening. That movie ended up grossing $1.3 billion worldwide. Animation has already had a spectacular year so far, with hits such as Inside Out 2 ($1.6 billion worldwide), Despicable Me 4 ($970 million), Kung Fu Panda 4 ($550 million), and more recently, The Wild Robot ($318 million). Moana 2 opened to mostly positive reviews — it holds a 65% rating on the aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes — but wasn’t able to match up to the unanimous praise earned by its illustrious predecessor, which generated nearly $700 million worldwide in 2016 on the back of a 96% RT score.
Somewhat surprisingly, Moana 2’s blockbuster debut didn’t blow last week’s Wicked out of the water. Universal’s holdover hit achieved milestones of its own, grossing an estimated $117 million across the five-day Thanksgiving period, and taking its running domestic total past the $260 million mark. It’s now the highest-grossing Broadway adaptation of all time, thanks to incredible reviews and even better audience reception. Wicked has all the makings of a holiday-period hit, and seeing its marginal second-weekend drop, it’s likely to continue performing well into the new year.
Thanksgiving 2024 Bested the Record Haul of Thanksgiving 2018
Paramount’s Gladiator II slipped to the number three spot, grossing an estimated $44 million across the Thanksgiving period. This takes the film’s running domestic haul past the $110 million mark. Directed by Ridley Scott, Gladiator II also soared past the $300 million mark domestically this weekend, and is now the highest-grossing film of star Denzel Washington’s career. At the rate it’s going, it wouldn’t be surprising if it eventually overtakes the first Gladiator’s $460 million-plus lifetime global haul.
The fourth and fifth spots this weekend went to the Christmas-themed action-comedy film Red One, which grossed around $18 million across the five-day weekend, and Lionsgate’s faith-based film The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, which added around $5 million. Johnson’s second film in the top five is now inching towards the $80 million mark domestically, after having under-performed in its first couple of weeks of release. But at least it now has a shot of hitting the $100 million mark by the end of its run. The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, on the other hand, has now passed the $30 million mark domestically. Elsewhere, director Luca Guadagnino’s second film of the year, the controversial Queer, opened to impressive numbers in limited release.
Stay tuned to Collider for more updates.
Moana sets out on another daring voyage, venturing into uncharted territories to save her island from a looming ancient danger. Joined by the demigod Maui and her steadfast friends, she braves perilous seas and encounters new allies along the way. Her quest leads to revelations about her ancestors and deeper insights into her bond with the ocean.
- Director
- David G. Derrick Jr. , Jason Hand , Dana Ledoux Miller
- Cast
- Auli’i Cravalho , Dwayne Johnson , Alan Tudyk , Rachel House , Temuera Morrison , Nicole Scherzinger , Hualālai Chung , David Fane , Rose Matafeo , Awhimai Fraser , Gerald Ramsey , Khaleesi Lambert-Tsuda
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