"Moana 2" – Disney’s New Thanksgiving Box Office Champion

Atop this messiness sat Disney's "Moana 2", which made the 2024 box office blues disappear by eclipsing all financial forecasts and establishing an unprecedented Thanksgiving weekend success with an astounding domestic gross of $221 million for the holiday frame to leap over "The Super Mario Bros. Movie" ($205.6 million) to grab the mantle as history's highest five-day gross. It blew past pre-release estimates that had it opening between $125 million and $145 million and sent Disney's previous record holder, "Frozen II" ($130 million three-day opening), to a distant second.

What really makes that success remarkable, though, is that the original "Moana," upon its release in 2016, wasn't some gigantic box-office smash. Though the film boasted an all-star musical lineup from Lin-Manuel Miranda and a very compelling narrative, the returns at the box office for it were only moderate. Over time, however, "Moana" became something of a favorite and attained juggernaut status on streaming platforms, becoming the most-watched kids' movie across all platforms last year.

Initially, "Moana 2" was planned as a limited series for Disney+ due to the studio's relatively low expectations for the sequel's theatrical performance, but in the quarterly earnings call earlier this year, Disney Course corrected and opted to go wide. And with it, the gamble paid off rather nicely, it seems. Moana 2 has far exceeded our high expectations this weekend and is a testament to the phenomenon that Moana has become," said Disney Entertainment co-chairman Alan Bergman.

But it wasn't just Disney cashing in on this Thanksgiving bonanza. "Wicked," a Broadway musical adaptation and prequel to "The Wizard of Oz," had a similarly stellar outing, hauling in $117.5 million and pushing its global total to nearly $360 million. At the same time, Paramount's "Gladiator II," with mixed reviews, took in $111.2 million domestically to add to its worldwide gross of $320 million. Combined, the three films, "Moana 2," "Wicked," and "Gladiator II," accounted for more than $425 million in box office receipts over Thanksgiving, topping the prior record of $316 million set in 2018.

Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, the voice of the titular demigod Maui in "Moana 2," also had two films in the top five this weekend as his Christmas actioner "Red One" opened to fourth with $18.7 million. The dominance of the "Moana 2" holiday weekend kept Disney on its hot streak in 2024 after massive releases such as "Inside Out 2," which has grossed nearly $1.7 billion worldwide to date and now stands as Pixar's highest-grossing film ever, along with the R-rated "Deadpool & Wolverine," with $1.3 billion as the most successful R-rated movie of all time.

Moana 2", though only a modest 65% on Rotten Tomatoes, wowed some critics for the "general flatness" and "sequel fatigue", cements an incredible run of franchise hits from Disney in 2024. But Disney is far from finished. With "Mufasa: The Lion King" lined up to launch over Christmas, the studio could hold that momentum well into 2025.

The success of Disney this year, mainly due to sequels, reboots, and remakes of favorite franchises, proves that the studio has mastered the art of building upon its existing intellectual properties. It only shows that even a decade after its original release, a live-action remake of "Moana" is in the pipeline, with Dwayne Johnson once again assuming the role of Maui.