Auli’i Cravalho is the voice of Moana in Disney Animation’s Moana 2.
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The domestic box office is poised for its biggest Thanksgiving sales since the pandemic, thanks to a Polynesian princess, two witches and a vengeful gladiator.
disney’s “Moana 2” opens in theaters Wednesday and is expected to generate $120 million to $150 million in box office revenue in the U.S. and Canada by Sunday. Participating are: universal “evil” Paramount’s Both “Gladiator II” are in their second week of domestic screening.
Box office analysts say the five-day Thanksgiving weekend, which runs Wednesday through Sunday, should easily top $200 million in ticket sales, potentially even making it the second or third-highest Thanksgiving weekend in movie history. I think there is.
“The triple feature of ‘Moana 2,’ ‘Wicked,’ and ‘Gladiator II’ is a veritable perfect storm for Thanksgiving movie theaters this year,” said Sean Robbins, Director of Analytics at Fandango and founder of Box Office Theory. he said.
“The holiday has regularly seen major releases combined to appeal to all audiences, but so far it has been a challenge for the industry to recreate that in the post-pandemic era. “It was,” he said. “This year is much different than previous years, with such a significant trifecta of releases on the way that could lock in some of the biggest overall box office grosses ever seen in the holiday season. .”
Thanksgiving holiday box office revenue hasn’t exceeded $200 million since 2019, according to ComScore data. Currently, the highest-grossing Thanksgiving weekend was in 2018, led by “Ralph Breaks the Internet,” “Creed II” and “Fantastic Beasts: Where to Find Them.” Ticket sales totaled $315 million. The second-highest revenue for the holiday period was $294.2 million secured during the same five-day period in 2013.
“Thanksgiving is probably the most important holiday period of the year for movie theaters, as it sets the tone for the box office at the end of the year,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at comScore. “The strength of the last few weeks of the year will determine the year’s total box office revenue and whether that box office revenue is a win or a loss for the industry.”
Disney could capitalize on another animation win.
Pixar and Disney Animation titles have dominated the Thanksgiving box office for years, but a string of recent releases have failed to live up to expectations.
In 2016, Moana was released on the Thanksgiving holiday and grossed $82.1 million. The following year’s “Coco” grossed $72.9 million during its release, and 2018’s “Ralph Breaks the Internet” grossed $84.8 million in its five days of release. Just before the pandemic in 2019, “Frozen II” grossed more than $130 million, adding $125 million during the Thanksgiving period after opening the previous week.
Meanwhile, “Encanto,” which debuted in the midst of the pandemic, managed to gross $40.6 million in 2021. “Strange World” flopped, collecting only $18.9 million over the 2022 holiday period, and “Wish” only earned $31.6. There were no Disney animated films released during the 2020 Thanksgiving period.
However, “Moana 2” should outperform those releases post-pandemic. The film will be released in theaters one year after the first film was named a top streaming movie for kids and families. And over the summer, audiences flocked to Disney and Pixar’s Inside Head 2 in droves. “Inside Head 2” grossed $154.2 million domestically, with worldwide box office receipts exceeding $1 billion.
Disclosure: Comcast is the parent company of NBCUniversal, CNBC, and Fandango. NBCUniversal distributed “Wicked.”
