The Moana 2 wave is overwhelming the American box office for Thanksgiving.
© The Walt Disney Company
More than ever, Thanksgiving weekend belongs to Disney. Five years after the crazy figures of Frozen 2Mickey's studio has just raised the record bar with Vaiana 2. The new animated film marks a huge launch both in the United States and around the world. We take stock.
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A massive Thanksgiving at 422 million
This is called a tsunami. With $135 million raised between Friday and Sunday, and $221 million including Wednesday and Thursday of Thanksgiving, Vaiana 2 exploded the previous American weekend record set by Frozen 2 (125 million) in 2019.
The film also offers the best launch of all time for a Disney animated film, and boasts a 170% increase in launch compared to that of the first opus released in 2016 (81.9 million).
But that's not all! The film also marks the biggest start in history for an animated film, dethroning Super Mario Bros, the movie (205.6 million) from the Universal studio, and achieving launch records in many countries: France, Poland, Egypt, Turkey, Qatar, Lebanon…
Vaiana 2 is a hit at the American and worldwide box office.
© The Walt Disney Company
A first weekend of this magnitude propels Vaiana 2 in the upper echelons of the annual and global box office. With an estimated budget of 150 million dollars and the Christmas holidays on the horizon, the film is set to well exceed 520 million on American soil and easily reach the billion mark worldwide. It confirms an excellent year for Disney, which has already enjoyed success with Vice-Versa 2 et Deadpool & Wolverine.
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As a reminder, Vaiana 2 was originally conceived as a series planned for the Disney+ platform, before being rewritten and adapted into a film for a cinema release. A visibly wise decision on the part of Disney, while the first Vaiana remains the streaming service's most viewed film year after year.
Wicked is one of the big hits of 2024.
© Universal Pictures
Thanksgiving benefited everyone, and the rest of the box office Wicked took in a new $80 million for its second weekend, down just 28.9% from the previous one.
After breaking the start-up record for an adaptation of a Broadway musical, the film has already reached a cumulative total of 262 million in the United States. If its American success is obvious, a less marked international plebiscite seems to make the billion mark in the world difficult to reach. To be continued.
Paul Mescal in Gladiator 2.
© Paramount Pictures
In the rest of the classification, Gladiator 2 enjoys a nice second weekend and adds 30.7 million to its bag (-44.2%). Contrary to WickedRidley Scott's sequel can count on great international popularity, reaching 320 million worldwide. It seems a bit tight to absorb its budget (250 million), but the film has clearly not said its last word.
Speaking of crazy budget, the action comedy Red One with Dwayne Johnson and Chris Evan – and its bill estimated at 250 million dollars – confirms its failure. The film has already fallen to fourth place in the ranking, and has barely reached the 150 million mark worldwide. Amazon is undoubtedly hoping to absorb a little of the bill when it is released on Prime Video.
Chris Evans and Dwayne Johnson in Red One.
© Amazon MGM Studios
US box office from November 27 to December 1, 2024 (estimates)
| FILM | WEEK-END | CUMULATIVE UNITED STATES | WORLD CUMULATION | WEEK | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Vaiana 2 | 221 000 000 $ | 221 000 000 $ | 386 300 000 $ | 1 |
| 2 | Wicked | 117 500 000 $ | 262 425 510 $ | 359 270 510 $ | 2 |
| 3 | Gladiator II | 44 000 000 $ | 111 207 811 $ | 320 007 811 $ | 2 |
| 4 | Red One | 18 717 000 $ | 76 054 720 $ | 148 654 720 $ | 3 |
| 5 | The Best Christmas Pageant Ever | 4 855 000 $ | 32 000 049 $ | 32 120 512 $ | 4 |
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