Disney’s “Moana 2” has scored the biggest five- day opening ever for a Thanksgiving weekend, raking in $221 million, according to industry estimates released Sunday.
The animated sequel to the 2016 hit about the daughter of a Polynesian village chief and her oceanic adventures topped the previous record for a five-day Thanksgiving weekend set by 2019’s “Frozen II” with $125 million.
Despite the eye-popping haul for “Moana 2,” Universal Pictures’ “Wicked” also continued to do huge business in its second week in North American theaters, grossing $117.5 million Wednesday though Sunday and $80 million over the three-day weekend, Comscore reported.
The twin blockbusters also produced the biggest overall Thanksgiving weekend grosses in North American history, with an estimated $420 million for all films. That easily beats the old record of $315 million set in 2018.
Also in its second week, “Gladiator II” claimed third place with $44 million over five days and $30.7 million over the traditional three-day weekend.
“Red One,” the Christmas-themed action comedy starring The Rock, slipped to fourth place with $12.8 million Friday through Sunday in its third week.
“The Best Christmas Pageant Ever’ continued the holiday theme, settling into fifth place with $3.2 million for the three-day weekend in its fourth weekend.
Rounding out the top 10 domestic releases were “Bonhoeffer: Pastor. Spy. Assassin” ($2.4 million), “Venom: The Last Dance” ($2.2 million), “Heretic” ($956,797), “The Wild Robot” ($670,000) and “A Real Pain” ($665,000).
This weekend’s overall three-day box office haul was estimated at $272 million. The year-to-date total is $7.781 billion — down 6.4% from the figure at this time last year, according to Comscore.
