The Thanksgiving holiday delivered a record-breaking $420M at the domestic box office. Although I personally didn’t care for the three most successful films (“Moana 2,” “Gladiator II,” “Wicked”), it’s nice to see audiences going back to theaters, albeit for heavily nostalgia-driven films.
“Moana 2” earned an incredible, and record-breaking, $221M since its Wednesday release. That’s a Thanksgiving record; obliterating previous high-water marks set by 2019’s “Frozen II” ($125M) and 2013’s “Hunger Games: Catching Fire” ($109M).
“Wicked” continued its commercial success by racking up another $118M over the five-day holiday stretch. It has made $262M in North America and $359M globally to date. When all is said and done, it might end its domestic run at over $450M. The second chapter has already been shot — both films are said to have cost a combined $350M.
Meanwhile, “Gladiator II” earned $44M from Wednesday-Sunday. Its domestic total currently stands at $112M. Its overseas receipts are helping a lot as Ridley Scott’s epic is currently at $320M worldwide. According to some, the film would need $550M to break even.
Far behind, in fourth place, “Red One,” a Christmas-set action comedy starring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, added $18.7M over the five-day holiday frame. The Amazon/MGM film has grossed $75M in North America and $149M globally after three weekends of release. The film cost $250M to produce.
You can expect “Moana 2” and “Wicked” to remain in their respective spots next weekend as this coming Friday’s new releases will likely not make much noise at the box-office; “Nightbitch,” “Y2K,” “Werewolves,” and “The Order” will probably all open with sub-$10M weekends. It’s not until December 13 — when ‘Kraven’ and ‘Lord of the Rings’ get unveiled — that we might get a shakeup.
The Spanish-language Oscar hopeful from Los Javis, Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi, will now hit theaters October 16, nearly three weeks earlier than planned, before arriving on Netflix December 2.