UPDATED: Walt Disney Animation Studios’ Moana 2 shattered box office records thanks to a confirmed $225.2m five-day North American debut that combined with the ongoing heroics of Wicked and Gladiator 2 to deliver the all-time biggest Thanksgiving holiday weekend.
Overall the three films powered a five-day Thanksgiving weekend to more than $420m, eclipsing the $316m achieved in 2018 when the story was all about Ralph Breaks The Internet and Creed II. The BoxOffice Company said Moana2, Wicked and Gladiator II alone accounted for 75% of all showtimes.
Moana 2, which was originally conceived as a straight-to-Disney + series, earned an estimated $57.5m on Wednesday November 27, $28m on Thanksgiving day Thursday, $54.5m on Friday, $50.5m on Saturday, and $30.5m on Sunday. The confirmed Friday-Sunday three-day bow delivered $139.7m.
All this was enough to achieve the biggest five-day opening of all time (overtaking The Super Mario Bros. Movie on $204.6m last year), the biggest three- and five-day Thanksgiving weekends (surpassing $125m and $94m set by Frozen 2), and the biggest Thanksgiving opening weekend ever (Frozen’s $94m and $67m), as well as record Thanksgiving day (Frozen 2 earned $15m) and Black Friday grosses (Frozen 2 took $34.2m).
The result overtook Frozen 2’s $130.3m to establish the biggest Walt Disney Animation Studios debut of all time and means Disney now holds the top seven and nine of the top 10 Thanksgiving debuts. The global debut produced $386m including $165m from international markets. Screen will report full international numbers on Monday.
Moana 2 reunites the voice cast of Auli‘i Cravalho in the title role and Dwayne Johnson as Maui. It played in 4,200 locations and according to ComScore’s PostTrak polling drew a diverse audience in North America that broke down as follows: Caucasian (35%), Hispanic (25%), African American (19%), Asian (12%), and 8% (Native American/Other).
Some 65% of filmgoers were female. By age, the under-12’s accounted for one-quarter of the audience, while the 13-17 bracket drew 15% of the audience, 18-24 12%, 25-34 16%, 35-44 20%, 45-54 9%, and the over 55’s 4%.
Moana opened on $82.1m over the 2016 five-day Thanksgiving weekend and earned $248.8m by the end of its North American run.
In its second session Universal’s hit Broadway stage adaptation Wicked ranked second, adding $80m over three and $117.5m over five days from 3,888 sites to raise the running total to $262.4m. Jon M. Chu’s Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande tentpole has become the highest-grossing Broadway adaptation of all-time ahead of Grease’s $188.6m, and the ninth biggest musical of all time after squeezing ahead of Moana.
In third place was Paramount’s Gladiator II, which brought in $30.7m over three days and $44m over five from 3,580 locations in its second weekend to reach $111.2m.
Columbia Pictures’ Venom: The Last Dance added $2.2m over three and $3.1m over five for a $137.9m running total.
DreamWorks Animation’s The Wild Robot ranks eighth on $142.5m through Universal after 10 weekends.
Mohammad Rasoulof’s Cannes special jury prize and Fipresci winner The Seed Of The Sacred Fig opened through Neon on three screens for $33,000 over three days and $50,000 over five. The Iranian drama and German Oscar submission about a Tehran patriarch whose appointment as an investigative judge causes a rupture within his household averaged $11,000 and $16,667, respectively.
Also through Neon, Sean Baker’s Palme d’Or winner Anora added $502,481 over five to raise the running total to $12.7m after seven weekends.
Luca Guadagnino’s William S. Burroughs adaptation Queer, which debuted in Venice and stars Daniel Craig as a lonely man on the prowl for companionship in 1950s Latin America, scored one of the best limited openings of the year to date through A24.
The period drama grossed $295,518 over five days for a $42,217 per screen average. Drew Starkey also stars and the film will get a limited expansion this weekend in advance of a moderate nationwide break on December 13.
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