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Moana 2 experiences a historical adventure in the checkoutwhere it has broken record after record since launching on Thanksgiving Eve.
Heading into the holidays, Walt Disney Animation’s sequel is expected to earn an already massive $125 million to $135 million for the long five-day weekend (Wednesday-Sunday). Instead, the music-infused family film served up a magical $221 million for the five days, including $135.3 for the three-day weekend, thanks to pent-up demand to witness the continuing adventures of the fearless Moana, voiced again by Auli’i Cravalhoand the demigod Maui, also voiced again by Dwayne Johnson.
The Thanksgiving menu also included Universal’s record Bad and Paramount’s Gladiator II. The trio of films resulted in the biggest Thanksgiving of all time in terms of domestic holiday revenue, which reached $420 million — more than $100 million more than the previous record set in 2018 at $316 million, according to Comscore.
Overseas, Moana 2 opened with $165.3 million for a global tally of $386.3 million, after reaching No. 1 everywhere except China.
Moana‘s journey to becoming a franchise has been unusual, to say the least. The original 2016 film performed solidly, but not spectacularly, and the sequel was originally developed as a Disney+ series. That is, until the 2016 pic transformed into an enduring cultural phenomenon among kids, becoming the most streamed movie across all platforms in 2023, according to Nielsen.
Directed by David Derrick Jr., Jason Hand and Dana Ledoux Miller, the sequel follows the young heroine as she embarks on an unexpected adventure into long-lost waters after receiving a call from her ancestors. Of course, Maui shows up too.
“Moana 2 far exceeded our high expectations this weekend and is a testament to the phenomenon that Moana has become,” Disney Entertainment co-chairman Alan Bergman said in a statement. “We are fortunate to have an incredibly talented and hardworking creative team at Disney Animation who have brought this new adventure to life, along with our incredible stars Auli’i and Dwayne and great new music. This is a moment to celebrate, and we are grateful to all the moviegoers and fans who helped make this a record-setting debut.”
Below are the records broken so far, according to Disney and Comscore. The gross amounts are not adjusted for inflation.
Biggest five-day debut of all time, period
Moana 2 (November 2024): $221 million
The Super Mario Bros. Movie (April 2023): $204 million
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (July 2010): $200 million
Transformers: Dark of the Moon (July 2011): $163 million
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (July 2009): $158 million
By far the biggest 5-day Thanksgiving earner of all time (including residual films)
Moana 2 (2024): $221 million
Frozen II (2019): $125 million
Bad (2024): $117.5 million
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2010): $110 million
Frozen (2013): $93.6 million
Largest 5-day Thanksgiving opening nationwide, by a mile
Moana 2 (2024): $221 million
Frozen (2013): $93.6 million
Ralph disconnects the internet (2018): $84.8 million
Toy story 2 (1999): $80.1 million
Coconut (2017): $72.9 million
Biggest three-day Walt Disney animated debut of all time
Moana 2: $135.5 million.
Frozen II: $130.3 million
Biggest Black Friday gross of all time
Moana 2: $54.5 million
Frozen II: $34.2 million
Moana 2: $28 million
Frozen II: $15 million
Moana 2: $57.5 million
Frozen II: $42.2 million
Of all animated films Moana 2 boasts the third largest opening day after 2024 Inside out 2 ($71.3 million) and 2018’s Incredible 2 ($63.6 million). The last two films are both from sister Disney studio Pixar.
Foreign highlights
Moana 2 scored the second-biggest global launch of the year so far, behind fellow Disney pic Deadpool and Wolverine.
France led all markets with an astronomical $18.8 million, the biggest opening of all time for an animated film. In other major markets, it scored the second-biggest animated opening in Italy and Brazil. And it has the largest opening for a Walt Disney Animation title in the Latin American region and in nearly 30 individual markets around the world, including Australia and Mexico.
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