The Disney sequel arrived to a $386.3 million global haul across the five-day holiday weekend
Moviegoers have plenty to be thankful for after this holiday weekend box office — especially those who love a good musical.
While Wicked is still dominating social media with memes and sing-along discourse, Moana 2 has cemented itself as the box office victor after debuting to a massive $221 million domestically over the five day weekend, per Comscore This yield marks a new Thanksgiving box office record, as the Disney sequel obliterates the previous high from The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, which finished the 2013 five-day holiday with $109.9 million,
Overseas, Moana 2 managed similar success, snagging an estimates $165.3 million in international markets towards its global tally of $386.3 million.
Moana and Maui in ‘Moana 2’
The animated film reunites Moana (Auliʻi Cravalho) and her demigod ally Maui (Dwayne Johnson) three years after the events of the first film, with the teenager now assuming new duties as the leader of her voyaging village. Moana is once again tasked with going beyond the island of Motunui, now in the hopes of finding other island communities — but this time, she’ll also be joined by a crew of unlikely seafarers.
“This is not only her journey anymore,” Cravalho told Entertainment Weekly ahead of the film’s release. “She must share in those responsibilities if she wants to not only get to her end destination, but also make it back home. This has become an even larger quest of basic survival.”
She added, “Moana has this sense of, ‘No one’s going to run this canoe like I am,’ and yet there is an absolute need to realize that we are all pieces in a much larger puzzle.”
As Moana sails towards success, Wicked soars through yet another lucrative weekend. The adaptation of the much beloved Broadway musical — which is itself a prequel to The Wizard of Oz —has snagged another $117.5 million domestically, bringing its tally to an impressive $262.4 million just two weekends into its run. Globally, the film now sits at a whopping $359.3 million.
Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande lead the film as Elphaba and Glinda, the future witches of Oz who forge an unlikely friendship during their school days at Shiz University.
Helmed by Jon M. Chu, the film adapts the first act of the Broadway hit, with Act 2 set to follow when the sequel hits theaters on Nov. 21, 2025.
“If Part 1 is about choices, Part 2 is about consequences,” Chu teased to Entertainment Weekly. “Choices are difficult to make, but when you do make those choices, sometimes the result isn’t what you expect it to be. It can be lonely, it can be hard.”
He added that the second film will include much “soul searching” from both characters as they ask themselves, “‘Is this the right decision that you made?'”
Speaking of much-anticipated sequels, Gladiator II also enjoyed another busy box office weekend, continuing the tale that began with Ridley Scott’s epic 2000 film Gladiator. The star-studded sequel — fronted by Paul Mescal, Pedro Pascal, and Denzel Washington — earned another $44 million for a domestic total of $111.2 million ($320 million globally).
With two musicals and an action-packed epic holding the top 3 spots, audiences were clearly feeling festive as No. 4 and No. 5 are both ushering in the holiday spirit. The Santa Claus bounty hunter comedy Red One added another $18.7 million to its $76 million pile across the five-day weekend, bringing its global tally to $148.6 million.
The film follows Dwayne Johnson as the head of North Pole security, teaming up with a notorious hacker (Chris Evans) in the hope of rescuing the recently kidnapped Santa Claus (J.K. Simmons). Lucy Liu, Bonnie Hunt, Kiernan Shipka, Kristofer Hivju, Nick Kroll, and Wesley Kimmel also star in the action-packed comedy.
Source: Entertainment Weekly, https://ew.com/moana-2-blows-wicked-out-of-the-water-with-massive-box-office-debut-8753612
