WPBN: This holiday stretch has seen the highest-grossing Thanksgiving weekend at the box office ever thanks to a week of big film releases.
First, audiences flocked to theaters to watch a vengeful gladiator battle the horrors of the old Roman Colosseum and sing along with the witches of Oz. After that, they went back to watch Moana’s perilous sea voyage on the big screen.
According to Comscore box office data, the three help to generate an estimated $420 million for Thanksgiving weekend, which is more than the previous record of $315.6 million set in 2018 with the release of “Ralph Breaks the Internet,” “Creed II,” and “Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald.”
With the largest five-day opening ever, including the largest Thanksgiving debut ever, “Moana 2” has broken box office records, grossing $221 million in North America since its Wednesday release.
The movie nearly quadrupled the $15 million Thanksgiving Day record previously held by “Frozen 2” and surpassed the previous five-day opening record of $204.6 million for “The Super Mario Bros. Movie.”
The sequel to Disney’s 2016 film “Moana,” which is set in ancient Polynesia, follows Moana, the daughter of an island chief, as she flees her home of Motunui in order to remove the curse of a Polynesian god and save her people.
The movie has “far surpassed our high expectations this weekend and is a testament to the phenomenon that ‘Moana’ has become,” according to a statement released by Disney Entertainment co-chairman Alan Bergman.
Throughout Thanksgiving weekend, Universal’s “Wicked” and Paramount’s “Gladiator II” both made a ton of money. “Wicked” made an estimated $117.5 million, defying gravity to become the highest-grossing Broadway adaptation of all time domestically. Over the course of the five days, “Gladiator II” also brought in $44 million at the domestic box office.
Both movies, which were released on November 22 in advance of Thanksgiving week, have drawn a lot of analogies to the “Barbenheimer” phenomena from last summer, when “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” produced a cultural moment and an unparalleled box office event.
Online fans swiftly called “Wicked” and “Glicked,” the double feature from Gladiator II.
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“Gladiator II,” an action-packed movie with swords, bloody fights, and ancient warfare, was in stark contrast to the upbeat Broadway show melodies of “Wicked,” which starred Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba and Ariana Grande as Glinda.
A surge in social media discussion and counterprogramming increased initial theater attendance, and both of them maintained their dominance of the box office after the double feature release.
Then, the day before Thanksgiving, when kids are finishing school and families are getting together, “Moana II” debuted on what Dergarabedian called a “perfect” release date.
