If 2024 will be remembered for anything, it will be the absolute return of Disney at the box office. After a string of events films that weren’t events in 2023, i.e. Pixar’s Elemental, The Marvels, The Haunted Mansion and Wish, the Mouse House came raging back this year, becoming the only motion picture studio to
Moana 2
Refresh for latest…: Here we are in the pre-holiday period with strong returns from the top two studio titles already in the marketplace, and a not unexpected uninspiring start from a movie that has jumped around the calendar. Taking the latter first, much as it has Stateside, Sony’s Kraven the Hunter failed to whip up
Sony’s $110M Spider-man universe spinoff Kraven the Hunter collected $2M in previews last night while Warner Bros/New Line $30M+ anime movie Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim counted $625K. Neither is expected to wow in their openings in a weekend that will be dominated again by Disney’s Moana 2 which is eyeing a
For all the blah blah that people don’t go to the movies before Christmas, and that moviegoing mushrooms from Christmas Day onward, two holdovers, Moana 2 and Wicked are expected to hold over quite well, with respectively $28M and $20M, -45% a piece, while two incoming fanboy movies fall apart: Sony Marvel’s $110M extended Spider-verse
FRIDAY PM: For all the chatter in years past about people getting distracted by holiday stuff, if there’s one thing that’s on their list this weekend, it’s going to the movies. Disney’s Moana 2 will see a second weekend of $55M-$60M, the most any No. 1 movie has seen during the historically ratcheted down post-Thanksgiving
Refresh for latest…: It was smooth sailing for Disney’s Moana 2 this weekend as it reached $600M global following last frame‘s record-breaking bow. The running split is even for the splashy sequel, with $300M domestic and $300M from the international box office. The full overseas frame was $103.7M in 52 markets, repping a 41% drop.
Numbers are fun as many a math teacher once said, and in a rivalry between Disney’s Moana 2 and Universal’s Wicked, the latter is having the upper hand at the U.S./Canada box office, not just yesterday, but today as well. Wicked made $5M on Wednesday, and is looking at $4.5M today, -10%. That’s ahead of
Moana 2‘s “Hauʻoli lākou” aka good luck continues this weekend as it eyes a $60M second frame. For the post-Thanksgiving first weekend of December, that’s an absolute mind-blowing record for a No. 1-ranking title, whether holdover or new release. The previous high for this frame was in 2019, when the third weekend of Frozen 2
After six days of release worldwide, Disney’s record-breaking Moana 2 stands at $404.5M, passing this year’s Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes ($397.4M) and Bad Boys: Ride or Die ($404.5M), already the No. 9 movie of the year. Yesterday, Moana 2 led at the domestic box office with $5.7M, -83% from Sunday, taking its
SUNDAY AM UPDATE after Nov. 30 post 11:21AM: The Thanksgiving stretch is delivering an unprecedented estimated $420M at the domestic box office, that’s according to Comscore since our post yesterday. EntTelligence reports 46M turkeys were eaten over the holiday while 30M people saw the top three movies. Moana 2 pulled in 17.4M admissions, Wicked 8.7M people while Gladiator II counted $3.3M
MONDAY AM: Everything is higher: Disney’s Moana 2 is settling its 5-day at $225.2M, while Universal’s Wicked is coming in at $118.2M, and Paramount’s Gladiator II at $44.3M. 3-day for Moana 2 is $139.7M after a $34.7M Sunday, -31% from Saturday. For a project that was originally destined to be on Disney+, and was flipped
MONDAY UPDATE with Moana 2 actuals: Now that Sunday’s actuals are in, Disney’s Moana 2 has surfed even higher across its launch frame domestically, swelling the global start to $389M. That’s a new milestone as Disney confirmed the phenom has posted the highest ever reported animated opening weekend at the global box office, overtaking the previous
AMC is celebrating this early AM that the No. 1 circuit pulled in an-all-time attendance record of 8.8 million people around the world over the Wednesday through Sunday span due to Disney’s Moana 2, Universal’s Wicked and Paramount’s Gladiator II. As a result of this the circuit is claiming that they also saw notable highs
When it came to opening a sequel to a classic animated movie, Disney didn’t rest on their laurels in selling Moana 2. Already, the original 2016 2x Oscar nominated movie has a built-in faithful; the pic being one of the most viewed Disney movies on Disney+. Expanding the brand to a worldwide audience, the Burbank,
Moana 2 is enjoying a historic adventure at the box office, where it has shattered record after record since its launch on Thanksgiving eve. Heading into the holiday, Walt Disney Animation’s sequel was tracking to open to an already huge $125 million to $135 million for the long five-day weekend (Wednesday-Sunday). Instead, the music-infused family
During the course of a record Thanksgiving weekend, Universal’s Wicked: Part One has become the highest grossing movie ever at the domestic box office based on a Broadway musical. Through yesterday, the Jon M. Chu-directed, Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande-starring feature counts $214.3M in the midst of its second weekend, defeating the lifetime gross of
The Thanksgiving stretch is delivering an unprecedented estimated $422M at the domestic box office. AMC Theatres CEO Adam Aron says that this weekend is “a national phenomenon” when it comes to moviegoing. That Wednesday through Sunday tally for all movies breaks the previous Thanksgiving record for all titles from 2018 when Ralph Breaks the Internet
Black Friday is typically one of the highest grossing days of the year at the box office, but this year it’s coursing to an all-time record with around $107M+ for all movies, led by Disney’s Moana 2. Today also has a shot at being the highest grossing day of 2024 to date, outstripping Friday, July
Refresh for latest…: Disney’s Moana 2 is off to a splashy start in its early international box office markets, diving in at $8.8M on Wednesday from 10 total with the sequel No. 1 in each. Included in that bunch, France saw the best opening day of 2024 and the 2nd highest animated opening day of all
Here’s a box office benchmark you don’t see often, if at all: A major Hollywood star has two No. 1 theatrical release openings in the same calendar month, that accomplishment going to Dwayne Johnson. For the month of November, Johnson saw a No. 1 opening in the Amazon MGM Studios Red One on Nov. 15
The worst thing a studio can do on a massive weekend like this is over-project. And if there’s one thing about Thanksgiving forecasts, they always get over-projected. Right now, Disney’s Moana 2 is putting up an estimated $54M first day, inclusive of yesterday’s Walt Disney Animation preview record of $13.8M. This will coast the Dwayne
Before Moana 2 rains a monsoon of cash, Universal’s Wicked will not go quietly in the night. In fact, on Monday the musical starring Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande was grande indeed with a studio reported $15.8 million box office take. That’s the best Monday ever for November, better than Frozen II ($12.7M on November
EXCLUSIVE: We’re not even past Thanksgiving, and the box office is already busting at the seams. Tonight, I hear that Disney’s PG-rated Moana 2, which started previews at 2PM, is heading to around $12M+ today. That’s a massive Tuesday pre-Thanksgiving preview record for the House of Mouse, beating previous champ, 2018’s Ralph Breaks the Internet
In the wake of one of the best pre-Thanksgiving frames in over a decade with Wicked and Gladiator II drumming up a $200M-plus frame, crowded lobbies around the world will remain intact this week as Disney’s Moana 2 joins the fray with what’s expected to be a $225M+, largely day-and-date global opening. That’s just below
As we told you recently, Disney‘s Moana 2 is heading to the best five-day opening ever at the Thanksgiving box office. We gave the six-weekend projection from Quorum, and this morning tracking service NRG — which reports three-weekend-out forecasts — is saying the Hawaiian princess sequel is going to clear $135M over Wednesday-Sunday. That would
Despite the sluggishness of the fall box office with the bombing of Joker: Folie à Deux and the flat-footed start of Venom: The Last Dance, the holiday frames are coming up roses. Specifically Disney’s Moana 2 could help fuel the year along with Wicked and Mufasa: The Lion King to nearly $9 billion. This is
Universal‘s massive musical tentpole bet Wicked originally was dated to go head-to-head with Disney Animation’s five-quad movie Moana 2 on Wednesday, November 27, the day before Thanksgiving, but will now go five days earlier on Friday, Nov. 22. A very smart release date change. Both movies are aimed at females. But Wicked counts a fanbase
In the wake of Inside Out 2’s massive $295M worldwide debut last weekend, Disney Head of Global Theatrical Distribution Tony Chambers kicked off the studio’s CineEurope presentation this evening thanking exhibitors in attendance for their part in the historic start — and was met in kind by enthusiastic and clearly appreciative applause. He noted too that midweek numbers have been
It’s looking like Disney will make a big comeback at the Thanksgiving box office: Their Moana 2 trailer which dropped Wednesday has become the studio’s most watched ever for an animated movie, clocking 178M views in 24 hours. That traffic sails by previous record holders Inside Out 2 (157MM) and Frozen 2 (116MM). The figure
Disney truly saved the best for last at CinemaCon — and that’s Dwayne Johnson. You can’t call it a CinemaCon without the action star, who is a regular here. Before he stepped onstage, a group of Hawaiian dancers and percussionists performed. They were shortly joined by the man who voices the film’s demigod, Maui. Exhibitor