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moana 2 sets box office records
Box office roundup

Moana 2 makes record setting waves over Thanksgiving weekend

Jeffrey Lyles , , , , , ,

Moana 2 gave Disney many more reasons to be thankful over Thanksgiving weekend with a record-obliterating debut.

The follow-up to the popular 2016 film earned $221 million during the five-day Thanksgiving period. That easily topped the previous record holder, Frozen II, which earned $125 million in 2019. Moana 2 also easily overtook the 2023 record set by The Super Mario Bros. Movie, which brought in an impressive $205.6 million.

For the weekend proper, Moana 2 also fared well in again topping Frozen II with an estimated three-day haul of $136 million. Frozen II brought in $130.2 million. Proving once again how off forecasts and speculation can be, the initial estimates for Moana 2 had it bringing in closer to $135 million on the low end and $145 million over the five-day period. Moana 2 reunited stars Auliʻi Cravalho and Dwayne Johnson for the sequel.

Despite Moana 2’s big box office presence, last week’s newcomers, Wicked and Gladiator II, fared well in their sophomore weekends.

Wicked earned a very impressive $118 million over the five-day period and $80 million for the weekend. The Cynthia Erivo/Ariana Grande musical has now earned $264,4 million domestically and $359.2 worldwide.

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In third place was the Ridley Scott sequel to 2000’s Gladiator. The film brought in $44 million over the five-days and $30.7 million for the weekend. So far the film has grossed $111.2 million in North America and $320 million globally.

Coming in at fourth was another film starring Johnson. This time in a live-action capacity. Red One earned $13 million for the weekend and #19 million for the five-day period. In total the $250 million film has earned $75 million and $149 million worldwide so it’s looking like a misstep to move this from the original plans to just release it as an Amazon Prime exclusive.

While there was plenty of family film competition, The Best Christmas Pageant Ever came in at fifth with $3.2 million for the weekend and $5 million over the five days. With its minimal budget of $10 million, the Christmas film has already netted a nifty profit with a $32 million haul so far.

Photo Credit: Disney/Universal

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