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Disney’s animated adventure “Moana 2” remained the de facto choice at the movies, collecting a leading $52 million from 4,200 North American theaters in its second weekend of release.
Ticket sales for the family friendly sequel declined by 63% from its record-breaking Thanksgiving debut of $139 million over the traditional frame and $225 million during the five-day holiday stretch. According to Disney, “Moana 2” secured the biggest post-Thanksgiving weekend, overtaking the benchmark set by “Frozen II” with $35.2 million. However, the second “Frozen” opened prior to Thanksgiving and had been in theaters for three weekends at that point.
“Moana 2” has been a huge boon for movie theaters owners considering the Polynesian-set sequel was originally commissioned as a TV series. So far, the second “Moana” has grossed $300 million domestically and $600 million globally. Any minute now, it’ll overtake the lifetime gross of its predecessor, 2016’s “Moana,” with $643 million worldwide. Though the original film performed solidly at the box office, the musical fable, which introduced such catchy songs as “How Far I’ll Go” and “You’re Welcome,” exploded in popularity on Disney+ and has remained one of the most-watched titles on streaming.
This weekend’s only major new release, A24’s horror comedy “Y2K,” failed to make a splash against “Moana 2” and other Thanksgiving leftovers. The film debuted in eighth place with a disappointing $2.1 million from 2,108 theaters. It’s one of the worst starts of the year for a film that opened in more than 2,000 locations. Critics and audiences dismissed the turn-of-the-millennium disaster flick, which earned a dismal “C-” on CinemaScore and 44% “rotten” average on Rotten Tomatoes. Those sentiments don’t bode well for word-of-mouth on “Y2K,” directed by “Saturday Night Live” alum Kyle Mooney and starring Rachel Zegler of “West Side Story” and “The Hunger Games” prequel fame.
Popular on Variety Elsewhere at the box office, Universal’s “Wicked” adaptation remained a draw with $34.85 million from 3,885 theaters in its third weekend on the big screen, down 57% from the Thanksgiving frame. The big-budget musical has generated $320.5 million, standing as 2024’s fourth-biggest domestic release behind “Inside Out 2” ($652 million), “Deadpool & Wolverine “($636 million) and “Despicable Me 4” ($361 million). “Wicked” has been far more popular in North America compared to international markets, where the film has collected $135 million and boosted its global tally to $455 million.
Paramount’s “Gladiator II, conversely, has been far bigger overseas than it has been in the United States. The long-awaited sequel to Ridley Scott’s Oscar-winning 2000 epic “Gladiator” remained at No. 3 with $12.4 million from 3,885 locations, declining 60% from last weekend. That brings its domestic tally to $132.7 million after three weekends of release. The R-rated tentpole, which cost more than $250 million before promotional efforts, has amassed more than $200 million internationally and $350 million globally.
Indian Telugu-language action thriller “Pushpa: The Rule Part 2” and Paramount’s 10th anniversary “Interstellar” re-release have landed way ahead of fellow newcomer “Y2K” on domestic box office charts.
“Pushpa” impressively secured the No. 5 spot with $5.5 million from 1,245 theaters. Allu Arjun, one of India’s biggest stars, led the sequel to 2021’s “Pushpa: The Rule.” The original film played in North American cinemas for one weekend, generating $1.32 million from 400 screens.
In sixth place, Christopher Nolan’s sci-fi epic “Interstellar” earned $4.4 million from just 165 Imax screens, a huge result given the movie is playing on such few screens. In the 10 locations where the film was presented in 70mm — the director’s preferred format — ticket sales were completely sold out, according to Imax. These returns once again prove that Nolan, the filmmaker of “Oppenheimer,” “The Dark Knight” trilogy and “Inception,” is the rare director who needs only his name to sell tickets.
“In the years since ‘Interstellar’ was released many people have asked me when they might have the chance to see it on an Imax screen,” Nolan said in a statement. “I was thrilled so many moviegoers took advantage of the original Imax experience of ‘Interstellar’ this weekend.”
The weekend after Thanksgiving is usually a quiet time for moviegoing, but this year’s offerings shook off the tryptophan to deliver the biggest post-Turkey Day bounty with approximately $132 million across all films. The prior record was set in 2018 with $120 million in total grosses, led by “Ralph Breaks the Internet,” “Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald” and “Creed II.” Though overall North American revenues are lagging behind pre-pandemic times, “Moana 2,” “Wicked” and “Gladiator II” helped to shrink the year-to-date deficit, which is currently 5% behind 2023 and 24% behind 2019, according to Comscore.
More to come…
