{"id":6010,"date":"2024-12-01T23:28:22","date_gmt":"2024-12-01T23:28:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/torontotribune.ca\/index.php\/2024\/12\/01\/moana-2-sails-to-a-record-221-million-opening-as-hollywood-celebrates-a-moviegoing-feast-national\/"},"modified":"2024-12-01T23:28:22","modified_gmt":"2024-12-01T23:28:22","slug":"moana-2-sails-to-a-record-221-million-opening-as-hollywood-celebrates-a-moviegoing-feast-national","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/torontotribune.ca\/index.php\/2024\/12\/01\/moana-2-sails-to-a-record-221-million-opening-as-hollywood-celebrates-a-moviegoing-feast-national\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Moana 2\u2019 sails to a record $221 million opening as Hollywood celebrates a moviegoing feast – National"},"content":{"rendered":"


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NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 Christmas came early at the box office this year.<\/p>\n

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\u201cMoana\u00a02\u201d<\/a>\u00a0brought in a tidal wave of moviegoers over the Thanksgiving Day weekend, setting records with $221 million in ticket sales, according to studio estimates Sunday. That, combined with\u00a0\u201cWicked\u201d<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0\u201cGladiator II,\u201d<\/a>\u00a0made for an unprecedented weekend in cinemas and a confluence of blockbusters more like what\u2019s often found in late December.<\/p>\n

Expectations were high for Walt Disney Co.\u2019s \u201cMoana\u00a02,\u201d but the film \u2014 originally planned as a series for Disney+ before it was redirected to the big screen \u2014 blew predictions out of the water. Its five-day opening set a new record for Thanksgiving moviegoing. (The previous best was $125 million for \u201cFrozen 2\u201d in its second week of release in 2019.) \u201cMoana\u00a02\u201d added $165.3 million internationally; with $386 million worldwide, it\u2019s the second-best global launch of the year.<\/p>\n

At the same time,\u00a0the sensation of \u201cWicked\u201d<\/a>\u00a0showed no signs of slowing down. The Universal Pictures musical brought in $117.5 million over the five-day weekend, pushing its two-week global total to $359.2 million. Not accounting for inflation, \u201cWicked\u201d is now the highest grossing Broadway adaptation over \u201cGrease.\u201d (That 1978 film grossed $190 million, but factoring in inflation would put it past $900 million.)<\/p>\n

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\u201cGladiator II,\u201d meanwhile, also held well, dipping 44% from its opening weekend. Ridley Scott\u2019s sequel to his Oscar-winning best picture original collected $44 million in its second weekend. While its steep price tag of $250 million will make profitability challenging, \u201cGladiator II\u201d has swiftly gathered $320 million worldwide.<\/p>\n

Those three films drove the overall box office to a record $420 million in overall Thanksgiving weekend ticket sales, according to Comscore \u2014 more than $100 million more than ever before. For an industry that has been battered in recent years by the pandemic, work stoppages and the upheaval caused by streaming, it was a triumphant weekend that showed the still-potent power of Hollywood\u2019s blockbuster machine. Before \u201cWicked,\u201d \u201cMoana\u00a02\u201d and \u201cGladiator II\u201d arrived in theaters, ticket sales were running about 25% behind pre-pandemic levels.<\/p>\n

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