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By Daybreak Chmielewski and Lisa Richwine
LOS ANGELES -Walt Disney’s animated musical “Moana 2” debuted with an estimated $368 million in world ticket gross sales via Sunday and mixed with “Depraved” and “Gladiator II” to ship the largest Thanksgiving weekend in U.S. and Canadian field workplace historical past.
A sequel to the 2016 Walt Disney animated movie, “Moana 2” reunites Auli’i Cravalho because the wayfinding title character with demigod Maui, voiced by Dwayne Johnson, on a voyage to interrupt a curse and reunite the individuals of the ocean.
Initially envisioned as a sequence for the Disney streaming service, “Moana 2” racked up a document $221 million from home ticket gross sales over the Thanksgiving interval from Wednesday via Sunday. That surpassed “Frozen 2’s” vacation haul of $125 million in 2019.
For all films in theaters this weekend, the home complete hit $420 million, smashing the 2018 Thanksgiving document of $315.6 million led by “Ralph Breaks the Web” and “Creed II.”
The outcomes offered Hollywood studios and cinemas a motive to have a good time after extended closures in the course of the COVID-19 pandemic and issues that audiences would possibly abandon theaters in favor of staying house to look at streaming TV.
“Should you make the correct film, a film with coronary heart and humor that appeals to audiences, they’ll come to the theater,” Disney Leisure Co-Chairman Alan Bergman mentioned at a latest “Moana 2” screening in Los Angeles.
Additionally they confirmed Hollywood had rebounded from disruptions attributable to the 2023 strikes by writers and actors. Chains reminiscent of AMC Leisure and Cineworld had been left with a skinny schedule for moviegoers within the first half of this yr.
“Depraved,” the difference of a beloved Broadway musical that may be a prequel to “The Wizard of Oz,” introduced in $117.5 million over Thanksgiving. Its world complete after two weekends in theaters reached $359.2 million, distributor Common Footage mentioned.
Motion epic “Gladiator II,” the sequel to a finest image winner 20 years in the past, hauled in $44 million domestically over the vacation and introduced its world complete to $320 million.
Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Comscore, mentioned this weekend’s turnout would seemingly gas robust gross sales within the coming weeks. He cited numerous potential hits reaching theaters in December to “assist the trade take the yr out on a excessive observe.”
They embody “Kraven the Hunter,” the animated “Lord of the Rings: the Conflict of the Rohirrim,” “Sonic the Hedgehog 3” and “Mufasa: The Lion King,” he mentioned.
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