Moana 2’ Cruises To Another Record Weekend

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Disney’s animated sequel Moana 2 had impressive gains at the box office during its second weekend, earning $52 million according to studio estimates Sunday. In domestic earnings, this brings the total to $300 million and surpasses the previous record holder, while the overall total worldwide has reached an impressive $600 million.

Also breaking the record for the largest money-making weekend following Thanksgiving, going beyond the Frozen II grossed $35.2 million in the same time frame last year. Initially planned as a movie for Disney+, not only is Moana 2 already up in the top five highest-grossing films of the year. Disney now boasts three of this year’s top five films, including Inside Out 2 and Deadpool & Wolverine. The studio anticipates another hit with the upcoming release of Barry Jenkins’ Mufasa on December 20.

Despite new releases like A24’s horror comedy Y2K and the Jude Law-led thriller The Order, none posed a significant challenge to the post-Thanksgiving heavyweights. Moana 2, Universal’s Wicked, and Paramount’s Gladiator II remained dominant.

In second place, Wicked added $34.9 million to its domestic haul, bringing its total to $320.5 million over three weeks. Globally, the film has earned $455.6 million. Gladiator II secured third with $12.5 million, followed by Red One with $7 million.

“This momentum from holdovers like Moana 2 and Wicked is paving the way for a potential $8.5 billion box office year,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Comscore.

While the industry routinely enjoyed more than $11 billion in annual pre-pandemic box office, it was a long way from last year’s $9 billion and had not looked as though it could get within even $8 billion of that during the slow start this year. Yet performances in the past two weeks have more than tightened the gap with year-to-date results for 2023: by more than 5%.