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Moana 2 Rules Record-Setting Thanksgiving Box Office

Moana 2, Wicked, and Gladiator II took the Thanksgiving box office to record-setting heights these last five days for the weekend Box Office

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Article Summary

  • Moana 2 leads Thanksgiving box office with a record-breaking $221M debut.
  • Wicked and Gladiator II contribute to a historic $420M total holiday weekend.
  • Moana 2 sets new Disney Animated and holiday opening records.
  • No major new releases next week, expect Moana 2's dominance to continue.

Moana 2 combined with Wicked and Gladiator II to propel the Thanksgiving box office to unprecedented heights these last five days. Moana 2 more than doubled its projections, stunning the town with a $221 million first five days. That is far and away the new record for the Thanksgiving holiday and now stands as the biggest opening ever for a Disney Animated film. It is also the biggest five-day debut ever, beating The Super Mario Bros. Movie's record from last year. It also added $165 million overseas to add up to a global start of $383 million. These are just staggering numbers for the film, which everyone knew would be huge, but how huge nobody predicted. If there is a storyline for 2024's box office, it is Disney flexing its muscles and retaking the throne of the top studio at the box office. Moana 2 will rapidly climb into the top five grossing films of the year by this time next week and should hit at least third place, giving Disney the top three films of the year.

Moana 2 Sends Ticket Sales To the Moon

Last week's big openers held up extremely well against Moana 2. Wicked takes second place with a five-day total of $117.5 million and is already becoming the highest-grossing film based on a Broadway musical ever after two weeks of release. Gladiator II takes third place with another $44 million, as it also continues to see stellar business. Overall, 30 million tickets were sold to the top three films this weekend, a record for Thanksgiving by a ton. The total box office finished at $420 million, taking the record for Thanksgiving by over $100 million from the previous record-setting year, 2018. This also proves that you can open multiple tentpoles close to each other because, hey, when the quality is there, people will show up. Imagine that.

The weekend box office top 5 for Thanksgiving:

  1. Moana 2 – $221 million
  2. Wicked – $117.5 million
  3. Gladiator II – $ 44 million
  4. Red One – $18.7 million
  5. The Best Christmas Pageant Ever – $4.9 million
Moana 2:
JOURNEY TO THE FAR SEAS — In Walt Disney Animation Studios' all-new feature film Moana 2, Moana (voice of Auli'i Cravalho) must journey to the far seas of Oceania and into dangerous, long-lost waters for an adventure unlike anything she's ever faced. Directed by David Derrick Jr., Jason Hand and Dana Ledoux Miller, and produced by Christina Chen and Yvett Merino, "Moana 2" features music by Grammy winners Abigail Barlow and Emily Bear, Grammy nominee Opetaia Foa'i, and three-time Grammy winner Mark Mancina. The all-new feature film opens in theaters on Nov. 27, 2024. © 2024 Disney Enterprises, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Next week, there are no major wide openings, so expect the trio of Moana 2, Wicked, and Gladiator II to continue to dominate. There are two openings on a smaller scale worth mentioning, though, as Amy Adams awards hopeful Nightbitch and Frank Grillo thriller Werewolves both open on the smaller side. They both have a shot at entering the top five, though of the two, I think Nightbitch has a better shot.

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Jeremy KonradAbout Jeremy Konrad

Jeremy Konrad has written about collectibles and film for almost ten years. He has a deep and vast knowledge of both. He resides in Ohio with his family.
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