“Moana 2” is shaping up to be one of the biggest waves for Walt Disney Animation Studios.
The animated musical about the Polynesian seafaring princess generated a domestic Thanksgiving haul of $28 million, the largest ever Turkey Day haul, according to studio estimates released Friday.
And the wave continues to grow. “Moana 2,” which features the voices of Auli'i Cravalho and Dwayne Johnson, could ultimately gross up to $200 million in ticket sales over the five-day holiday weekend. That would break the previous Thanksgiving weekend mark set by Disney's “Frozen 2,” which unfrozen to $125 million during its second weekend at the box office in 2019.
In just two days, “Moana 2” has generated $85.5 million in ticket sales domestically, according to studio estimates. Including international markets, the sequel to the 2016 hit has grossed more than $109 million.
The original “Moana” movie, which also opened over Thanksgiving weekend, grossed $81 million. It ultimately grossed $643 million in global ticket sales before becoming one of the biggest streaming movie hits of all time.
Disney's latest blockbuster has extended a welcome resurgence at the Hollywood studio box office at the end of a bumpy year. Hollywood movie theaters and executives have experienced a series of hot and cold theatrical releases, compounding industry struggles due to delays caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and last year's twin labor strikes by actors and writers.
Since last weekend, domestic distributors have generated approximately $400 million in ticket sales from the triple threat of “Moana 2,” Universal Pictures’ “Wicked” and Paramount Pictures’ “Gladiator II,” according to Comscore.
Those three films have combined to generate $340 million in ticket sales since Nov. 22, Comscore said.
Once again, Disney showed its cinematic and marketing magic. “Moana 2” was initially conceived to be a Disney+ streaming series, but after Disney CEO Bob Iger returned from retirement two years ago, Burbank executives reevaluated the studio's development and release strategy. .
Disney had impressive statistics to draw on: “Moana” has been the most streamed movie on Disney+ and was the No. 1 streaming movie among all services last year, according to Nielsen.
For months, Disney executives were silent about their plans, until the big reveal in early February, when the studio announced that “Moana 2” would hit theaters by Thanksgiving.
The film, which had a budget of almost 200 million dollars, It comes as moviegoers crave family-friendly food and sub-two-hour movies. (“Moana 2” lasts 1 hour and 40 minutes).
Trailers for “Moana 2” played frequently during Disney's previous hit film, “Inside Out 2,” which served to whet audiences' appetite for Moana's latest musical journey.
“All the stars aligned to make this the box office phenomenon that it is,” said Disney theatrical distribution chief Tony Chambers.
The film is directed by David Derrick Jr., Jason Hand and Dana Ledoux Miller. Features music by Abigail Barlow, Emily Bear, Opetaia Foa'i and Mark Mancina. The sequel was produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios at its Vancouver and Burbank locations.
