A Disney animated sequel ruling the Thanksgiving box office? I think we’ve heard this story before. Last year, “Moana 2” debuted to a Thanksgiving record $225 million over the five-day frame. You can now add “Zootopia 2” at no. 2 on the all-time list as it cooked up a fantastic $156 million this year. Globally, “Zootopia 2” was even more incredible, earning $556 million overall so far. A record global opening for an animated film and the fourth biggest in history.
READ MORE: “Hamnet’s” Chloe Zhao: “It’s Not My Job To Tell People How They Should Feel” [Interview]
Directed by Jared Bush and Byron Howard, the Walt Disney Animation Studios production has earned positive reviews with a 73 on Metacritic and a 91% on Rotten Tomatoes (the division’s best reviews over the past decade, next to “Encanto”). It also landed an A Cinemascore grade, which means Disney can expect good word-of-mouth over the next few weeks before another studio release, “Avatar: Fire and Ash,” as well as “The SpongeBob Movie: Search for Squarepants,” enter the fray on Dec. 19.
Overseas, “Zootopia 2” has been an animal, pulling in a massive $400 million overseas and $273 million from China alone. In fact, Judy and Nick’s latest case appears on track to be the highest-grossing Hollywood release in China of all time. It already beat “Avengers: Endgame’s” single-day record for a non-Chinese release on Saturday, taking in $104 million. This is a huge turnaround for Hollywood studio releases in China since the pandemic.
Coming in second was Jon M. Chu’s “Wicked for Good,” with another $93 million for a $270 million domestic cume and $393.3 million so far worldwide. The Universal Pictures release is now just a few million ahead of where the original “Wicked” was at this point in its release a year ago. Like most sequels, it will probably come in under the original’s final gross, in this case $474.9 million domestic, but a $500-600 million global tally is a given. Moreover, considering the first “Wicked” covered the production cost for both films with its $758 million global gross, “For Good” is just profitable gravy at this point.
“Now You See Me Now You Don’t” dropped to third with another $10.1 million over the five days for a new domestic total of $59.6 million domestic and $187 million global overall. The Lionsgate production cost a reported $90 million and appears to have paid off for its overseas partners with $13 million in, sigh, Russia alone.
Among other new releases, A24 dropped its Elizabeth Olsen and Miles Teller romantic comedy “Eternity” in just 1,348 theaters for a five-day cume of $5.2 million. That $3,829 per screen ain’t bad considering the competition and only so-so reviews (60 on Metacritic, 76% on Rotten Tomatoes). Whether it can hold up against the competition in the weeks ahead is unclear. The production budget has been kept under wraps on this one, so far.
Focus Features released Chloe Zhao’s critically acclaimed drama “Hamnet” in 119 theaters for a five-day gross of $1.35 million and a $11,344 per-screen average. A fine start with awards and accolades arriving imminently.
Netflix started a limited theatrical bow for Rian Johnson’s “Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery” in approximately 600 screens for just $4 million over the five-day. This is down considerably from “Glass Onion’s” $13.2 million tally four years ago, but two big caveats are at play. Neither AMC nor Regal Cinemas will currently book the streamer’s films. That was not the case with “Glass Onion.” Therefore, many moviegoers outside major cities are unaware that “Wake Up” was even in theaters at all. Second, Netflix has never dramatically pushed the theatrical portion in its marketing, but perhaps less so with this “Knives Out” installment compared to “Glass Onion.” Johnson even found himself going to social media to remind fans they could see the movie on the big screen. The movie has a great 81 on Metacritic and a 95% on Rotten Tomatoes, so its performance certainly has nothing to do with its quality.
New releases going wide on Friday include “Five Nights at Freddy’s 2,” “Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair,” and “Jujutsu Kaisen: Execution.”
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