‘Moana 2’ Sets Post-Thanksgiving Weekend Record With $50 Million

After shattering the Thanksgiving box office record last weekend, Disney’s “Moana 2” is now lifting the post-Thanksgiving weekend far above its usual lull period with an estimated record $50 million second weekend.

By comparison, the previous best total for a post-Thanksgiving weekend was held by “Frozen II” with $35.2 million in 2019. Historically, the first weekend of December is a slow one for theaters, with the public usually out doing Christmas shopping rather than moviegoing. Thus, studios avoid releasing new films beyond the occasional specialty or seasonal film to avoid competition from the bigger holiday releases coming later in the month.

But the combination of “Moana 2” and other November holdovers like Universal’s “Wicked” and Paramount’s “Gladiator II,” which lifted the overall Thanksgiving total to $426 million, is carrying over to the start of December. Currently, industry estimates have the overall total for the weekend reaching $129 million. That’s not only 76% higher than last year, but also beats out the unadjusted post-Thanksgiving record of $119 million set in 2018.

At this pace, exhibitor sources tell TheWrap that there’s a chance that the final domestic total for the box office could reach $8.5 billion, as presales and audience interest in Disney’s “Mufasa” and especially Paramount’s “Sonic the Hedgehog 3” are rising. Cracking that mark would mean the 2024 box office finishes less than 5% below the $8.9 billion overall domestic total of 2023, a good effort considering the first half of 2024 was 19% down year-over-year.

“Wicked” takes second with $32 million in its third weekend, and will pass $300 million in domestic grosses on Sunday. At this pace, the Jon M. Chu musical will easily pass $400 million in North America and has a chance to hit $500 million, depending on how it holds up against upcoming holiday releases.

“Gladiator II” is in third with $13 million, bringing its domestic total to $133 million as it will clear $350 million worldwide this weekend.

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