Thanksgiving Box Office Booms
The Thanksgiving box office saw a triumphant return to form for Hollywood, posting the strongest box office numbers we’ve seen in over a decade. There’s plenty to celebrate in the record-breaking milestones we’ve seen so far, for sure. Our entertainment attorney Los Angeles and local expert, Blake & Wang P.A.’s Brandon Blake, is here with the full picture to share.
2 Stellar Film Performances
Disney's Moana 2 led the charge with an extraordinary $221M five-day haul, spearheading a total holiday period collection of $420 million across all films for the box office. Critics were somewhat perturbed by Disney’s decision to release the film during the traditional Thanksgiving window, and have been very mixed about the film itself, but it has certainly worked for Disney this time.
The animated sequel is already outpacing its predecessor's performance, suggesting it could surpass $500 million domestically, especially with the upcoming Christmas season to pad its bottom line. The original 2016 Moana earned $248M during its entire theatrical run, equivalent to approximately $345M in today's prices, so that alone is a success.
Likewise, Wicked continued to enchant audiences in its second weekend, earning $80M with a remarkably low 29% drop in attendance. The Broadway adaptation has accumulated $262M in just ten days. This also positions it for a potential $500 million domestic total, and seeing both films reach that cap could be interesting indeed. Regardless of that speculation, however, it is well set to be among the top five highest-grossing musical adaptations ever, when adjusted for inflation.
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Crucial Recovery
Nor were these two tentpoles the only strong performers. Gladiator 2 took home $31M over a three-day weekend for $320M globally, although it has yet to make back its production and marketing budget and will still rely on strong Christmas performances. Red One, meanwhile, demonstrated impressive staying power with just a 2% drop in its third weekend, while The Best Christmas Pageant Ever showed similar resilience with only a 4% decline.
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The specialized film market saw notable debuts, including Luca Guadagnino'sQueer, starring Daniel Craig, which earned $295,000 across seven theaters in New York and Los Angeles. Meanwhile, the Iranian filmThe Seed of the Sacred Fig collected $50,000 from just three locations, and we saw some other indie successes pad out the remaining takings.
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This truly impressive box office performance, in addition to breaking records for both Moana 2 and Wicked across the board, comes at a crucial time for the theatrical industry. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say this is the most significant recovery milestone since the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted cinema attendance. With a three-day total of over $272M, it even came close to setting a new 2024 record!
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This remarkable Thanksgiving performance has helped narrow the year-to-date box office gap to less than 7% behind 2023's numbers, a major improvement on earlier projections. Crucially, despite the splashy performances from this week’s two blockbusters, we’ve seen multiple successes across both major releases and independent and specialized films, yet again showcasing the importance of a strong slate, not just individual titles, for audience appeal and healthy attendance. If the industry maintains this momentum over the Festive period, we may see the year close out at $8.5B in domestic earnings, which seemed impossible just a few months ago.