NEW YORK (AP) 鈥� Christmas came early at the box office this year.
brought 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 and made for an unprecedented weekend in cinemas and a confluence of blockbusters more like what鈥檚 often found in late December.
Expectations were high for Walt Disney Co.鈥檚 鈥淢oana 2,鈥� but the film blew predictions out of the water. Its five-day opening set a new record for Thanksgiving moviegoing. The previous best was $125 million for 鈥淔rozen 2鈥� in its second week of release in 2019. 鈥淢oana 2鈥� added $165.3 million internationally.
At the same time, showed 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, 鈥淲颈肠办别诲鈥� is now the highest grossing Broadway adaptation over 鈥淕rease.鈥� (That 1978 film grossed $190 million, but factoring in inflation would put it past $900 million.)
鈥淕ladiator II,鈥� meanwhile, also held well, dipping 44% from its opening weekend. Ridley Scott鈥檚 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, 鈥淕ladiator II鈥� has swiftly gathered $320 million worldwide.
Those three films drove the overall box office to more than $400 million in Thanksgiving weekend ticket sales, a record. 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鈥檚 blockbuster machine. Before 鈥淲icked,鈥� 鈥淢oana 2鈥� and 鈥淕ladiator II鈥� arrived in theaters, ticket sales were running about 25% behind pre-pandemic levels.
Michael O鈥橪eary, president and chief executive of the National Association of Theatre Owners, said the weekend showed what鈥檚 possible when 鈥渁ll the pieces of the puzzle come together鈥� in compelling big-budget movies with marketing muscle.
鈥淲e鈥檙e very optimistic that this weekend is the start of what we believe is a full-on charge into the future,鈥� he said. "The remaining quarter of this year looks very promising and then on into 2025 and 2026. We鈥檙e hoping next year is the first kind of normal year this industry has had in a long time.鈥�
Like the last time such anticipated movies collided on the release calendar 鈥� as in 2023's much-ballyhooed 鈥� the movie industry again could see evidence of a rising moviegoing tide lifting all blockbusters. In recent years, studios have typically tried to space out most of their biggest releases. Earlier this fall, 鈥淰enom: The Last Dance," for example, was , despite not being particularly successful.
鈥淔or a long, long time in Hollywood, there鈥檚 been a belief that you don鈥檛 put big blockbuster movies up against each other,鈥� said O'Leary. 鈥淏ut the truth of the matter is that competition is good. It鈥檚 good for the movies. It鈥檚 good for the studios. It鈥檚 good for the theater owners. But it鈥檚 particularly good for the moviegoing public.鈥�
Jake Coyle, The Associated Press
