The continuation of Vaiana landed at the North American box office where she dethroned the musical Wickedwhile breaking the record of Vice-Versa 2.
Mufasa could either change the situation or confirm the trend, but we can still say that in 2024, Disney has found form after complicated post-covid years. Marvel was at half mast after the implosion of The Marvelsmore Deadpool & Wolverine put butter and caviar back into the spinach, just like Vice-Versa 2 saved Pixar after the historic crash of Buzz l’Elair.
Disney Classics have not been spared either, especially with Wish: Asha and the lucky star which aroused as much interest (and deserved as much) as The farm rebels or Chicken Little. It is therefore Vaiana 2 who is responsible for bailing out the ship.
The Vaiana tidal wave 2
The sequel directed by David G. Derrick Jr., Jason Hand and Dana Ledoux Miller may have received mixed reviews, but North American spectators turned out in droves this weekend: $135.5 million in revenue over three days for a total of $221 million (the film being released on a Wednesday to take advantage of the Thanksgiving long weekend). And it's a record on almost every level for this film which has already repaid its estimated budget of 150 million dollars, excluding marketing.
Not only is this the second biggest start of the year ahead of the 205 million (over 5 days) of Vice-Versa 2 and behind the 261 million Deadpool & Wolverine (also over 5 days), but also for the best home launch of a Disney Classic since it dethroned Frozen 2 (130 million in three days, 163 million in five).
To not deny himself anything, he also surpassed the starts of Super Mario and all the films in the franchise Despicable Me (Minions included), to name only the fiercest competitors. It remains to be seen if Vaiana 2 will hold up over time and will exceed the 652 million historical home sales of Vice-Versa 2 or the 477 million Frozen 2.
LOVE IS WICKED
Obviously, the arrival of Vaiana 2 cut off the momentum Wickedwho therefore descends on the second step of the podium after his departure with fanfare. Jon Chu's musical comedy event with Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo, however, is holding up very well with 80 million more in the pockets, for a total of 262 million dollarshaving suffered a drop in attendance of only 28%. There is already talk of the best-performing box office launch of all time for a Broadway adaptation.
At the end of its run, it could also become the biggest musical of all time. At home, Wicked notably surpassed La la landboth Oh mama, The Greatest Showman et Les Miserables (2012).
Pour Gladiator 2 on the other hand, the trend is still downward after a start at home parasitized by Wicked. Accusing a drop of 44% and one place less in the weekly Top 5, the long-awaited sequel to the peplum has cashed in 30 million dollars this weekend for a total of 111 million.
It is also a bigger score than Napoleon (61 million in the United States), House of Gucci (53 millions), The Last Duel (10 millions), Alien Covenant (74 million) and All the money in the world (25 million), although the budget is much higher with an estimate between 240 and 250 million dollars excluding marketing (nearly two and a half times the budget of the first part).
As for Red Oneif the Christmas comedy with Dwayne Johnson and Chris Evans only suffered a very small drop of 2.5%, the failure is confirmed after three weeks in theaters. Over the last weekend, Jake Kasdan's film only earned $12 million, bringing revenues to… $76 million. It wouldn't be so bad if it hadn't cost 250 million. And it's even worse when you compare it to Black AdamThe Rock's previous four in theaters, which at the same stage of exploitation had amassed 137 million in the United States.
Suffice to say that despite this huge Thanksgiving weekend, Red One has a chance of finding a last-minute place among the biggest commercial failures of 2024 (the international box office not being the hoped-for lifeline). In France, it still has no release date.
